The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the order of temporary forfeiture given by a Federal High Court in Lagos in respect of the $8.4million traced by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to former
A five-man panel of the court, led by Justice Dattijo Muhammad, unanimously ruled that Mrs Jonathan’s appeal challenging the interim forfeiture was without merit.
Jonathan was ordered to go before the Federal High Court to justify her ownership of the money to prevent its permanent forfeiture to the Federal Government.
“I do not find any reason to interfere with the decision of the lower court. Appellant is to go back to the trial court (the Federal High Court) to show cause why the interim order should not be made permanent,” Justice Kumai Aka’ahs held.
The EFCC had in 2018 approached the Federal High Court in Lagos with an ex-parte motion seeking the forfeiture of the sum of $8,435,788.84 and other sums in various bank accounts linked to Mrs Jonathan.
The former first lady then moved to the Court of Appeal to challenge the competence of the motion filed by the EFCC to request the order of interim forfeiture.
But the appellate court in Lagos dismissed her appeal, forcing her to take her case to the Supreme Court.
