Mrs. Patience Jonathan
Calls
have gone to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to
seek the forfeiture of the sum of $175,750,000 allegedly found in an
account linked to former first lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan.
Adding their voices to the call in
different interviews yesterday were Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs),
including the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against
Corruption (PACAC), Prof Itse Sagay, Chief Ladi Williams and Chief Gani
Adetola-Kazeem, among other respondents.
They all advised the commission to trace
the movement of the money after it was initially traced to an account
said to belong to a company belonging to the former first lady.
The deposits were said to have been
found in the account of Pluto Property and Investment Limited (PPIL),
one of the firms allegedly linked to the former President Goodluck
Jonathan’s wife.
PPIL was one of the four companies
convicted by Justice Babs Kuewumi of the Federal High Court, Abujà on
November 2 for laundering the sum of $15.5 million, which the former
First Lady insists belongs to her.
Others are Seagate Property Development
& Investment Company Limited; Trans Ocean Property and Investment
Company Limited and Avalon Global Property Development Company Limited.
Prof Sagay told one of our
correspondents yesterday that Mrs Jonathan risked losing the $175m
allegedly found in the account of a company linked to her except she was
able belongs to her.
He said should the former first lady
fail to justify how she acquired the money, it would be forfeited to the
Federal Government.
Sagay said the Independent Corrupt
Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is empowered to
seize any funds suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Sagay said: “It is a straighforward
matter. If you found a sum of money like that and somebody claims it but
cannot establish how he or she acquired it, even under some of the
sections under the ICPC law, the person will forfeit it to the state.
“That has to be applied.
“If she was not able to explain how she was able to earn that money, how she earned it, then she will lose it,” Sagay said.
Chief Williams said the former First Lady owes Nigerians an explanation on how she came about the said money.
Speaking in a telephone interview,
Williams said: “The EFCC has to invite her for interrogation. She needs
to explain the source of the money and must give satisfactory evidence.
“She must be able to tell us if the
money was realised through some services she rendered. And if she claims
this, she must be able to provide the audited account.
“If the money was got through some business transactions, she should also be able to explain.
“As a first Lady and former Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa State, she owes the nation an explanation.
On his part, Chief Adetola-Kazeem
wondered how the sum of $175 million could have vanished without a
trace, urging the EFCC to question the relevant bank’s staff.
He said: “If the money was indeed in the
account, there’s no way it could have vanished without a trace. The
bank should be able to explain how it was moved.
“It was in an account with the bank. The bank must know how it was moved, who moved it and to whom or where it was moved.
“They can always trace that. When the
relevant bank staff are questioned, they should be able to disclose how
and to where the money was moved.
“It’s simply a question of tracing.”
The Executive Secretary, Socio Economic
and Accountability Project (SERAP), Adetokunbo Mumuni, however, advised
the commission to seek an interim court order for the forfeiture of the
money.
He said: “If Mrs. Patience Jonathan is
contesting ownership of the money, what the EFCC should do is to seek an
interim court order of forfeiture pending when the case would end.”
Mumuni expressed doubts on whether the
former first lady can rationalise and explain away how she came about
such a heavy amount of money when she was not an international
businesswoman.
He said the money should not be released to the former first lady.
The SERAP scribe said there are
provisions in the EFCC Act laying down the process the commission would
have to follow to obtain the forfeiture order.
He said there was need for her to
justify the source of the money, failing which she should be made to
forfeit it to the federal government.
Ozekhome differs
Another Senior Advocate of Nigeria,
Chief Mike Ozekhome, however, disagreed with the view that the former
first lady should forfeit the said sum.
He said it behooves the state to prove every allegation against any citizen beyond reasonable doubt.
Ozekhome said: “Section 36 of the 1999
Constitution, which they have not yet succeeded in abolishing in spite
of their grandstanding, presumes the innocence of a person accused of
any criminal offence.
“It is the state or the accuser that
should prove a crime beyond reasonable doubt. That is the Anglo-Saxon
system of criminal justice which is accusatorial, unlike the French
model which is inquisitorial, by which the guilt of an accused person is
presumed.
“The suggestion that Mrs Jonathan will forfeit the money if she cannot prove its source is antithetical to democratic norms.
“It is bizarre, and it is illegal to
tell a suspect to prove her innocence rather than the state proving that
she stole the money.
“That will be turning our criminal
justice system upside down. It can never and will never happen in this
country, in spite of their wishes.”
IYC, kinsmen defend ex-First Lady
Ijaw youths under the aegis of the Ijaw
Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide and kinsmen of former President Goodluck
Jonathan, yesterday, rose in defence of allegations of corruption
levelled against former First Lady, Patience Jonathan.
The President of IYC, Mr. Udengs
Eradiri, said it would be an aberration to ask Mrs. Jonathan to forfeit
the money she earned legitimately by virtue of her position.
Eradiri insisted that the bulk of the
money under investigation was given to the ex-first lady as a gift by
her well-wishers and friends of her family.
He explained that Patience attracted monetary gifts from people, especially at the time she was sick and almost died.
“We knew when she was seriously sick and she went abroad for treatment.
“People were moved, especially those who loathed the idea of the country losing another First Lady.
“They sympathised with her and donated money to enable her seek the best medical treatment.
“So, it was her goodwill that attracted
such money to her. That was when the bulk of the money was given to her
as a gift,” he said.
Eradiri further bemoaned attacks on the
former first family saying among all the former presidents that ruled
the country, only the one that came from the Niger Delta region was
subjected to constant harassment.
Eradiri said: “This country has produced
many presidents but the only one from the Niger Delta is constantly
harassed by the machineries of state, especially the EFCC.
“We want to call on the President to
please respect former President Jonathan, at least for the fact that he
brought peace to this country, handed over peacefully to him.
“He didn’t go to court. He allowed him
to run this country. President Buhari should please focus on leadership
and stop vilifying the first family.
“Patience Jonathan is not the first
First Lady in this country. A wife to former deputy governor, governor,
Vice-President and President, are you expecting her to be a poor woman?
“There are other First Ladies in this country.
“In recent time, a former First Lady was
awarded a university license. So, we are using this medium to send a
message: leave our first family alone.
“Some people are not happy about Jonathan’s rising profile and they want to destroy it.”
Also the Ogbia clan leader of IYC,
Osanya B. Osanya, said the entire Ogbia youths condemned the probe of
Jonathan and his immediate family.
“We call on the EFCC and the present
administration to tread with caution because the Niger Delta people are
losing their patience on this hunting of our leaders.
“We call for equal rights and equity”, he said.
The umbrella body of Jonathan’s kinsmen
under the auspices of Ogbia Brotherhood warned the Economic and
Financial Commission (EFCC) against further victimization of Jonathan’s
family.
The President of Ogbia Brotherhood,
Chief Benson Agadaga, asked the EFCC to leave Jonathan’s family alone,
saying the former President and his wife deserved rest.
Agadaga said: “The former first family
had been in public service as deputy governor, governor, vice-president
and president for a long time. They have served the country for so long.
They need rest and time for their children and family matters.
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