A federal high court in Lagos has ordered the final
forfeiture of N1.29 billion to the federal government in favour of Sterling
Bank Plc.
According to a statement on Saturday by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Deinde Dipeolu, presiding judge at the
court, ordered the final forfeiture of the funds.
The judge’s decision followed a motion on notice dated
January 8, filed by the EFCC through its counsel, Hannatu KofarNaisa.
The funds were reportedly withdrawn unlawfully by certain
individuals due to a system glitch at Sterling Bank.
Following a petition from the bank alleging the theft of
N2.5 billion, the EFCC conducted investigations that led to the identification
and tracing of the stolen funds to multiple accounts.
“The sums sought to be forfeited were domiciled in M Sharif Inter-Trading and Marketing Company Ltd’s UBA account (N900,00,000); Mustapha Abubakar’s UBA account (N255,872,842.84); Mustapha Sharif Abubakar’s UBA account (N12,195,093); Mustapha Sharif Abubakar’s Jaiz Bank account (N41,119,917.13); Abubakar Mustapha Sharif’s First Bank account (N19,069,567.73); and Mustapha Sharif Abubakar’s Sterling Imal (the alternative bank account) (N30,850,158.12),” the statement said.
On March 12, the court granted an interim forfeiture order,
instructing the publication of the order in a national newspaper to allow any
interested party to contest the forfeiture.
During the motion for the final forfeiture order, EFCC
counsel argued that the funds were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of
unlawful activities.
KofarNaisa also informed the court that the interim
forfeiture order was published in Punch newspaper on March 24, inviting any
interested parties to show cause why the funds should not be permanently
forfeited.
After reviewing the submissions by KofarNaisa, Dipeolu held
that “having gone through the motion and attachments, I find the application
meritorious and same is accordingly granted”.
The judge then ordered the final forfeiture of the funds to
the federal government in favour of Sterling Bank.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com