EFCC proceeds to freeze Dame Patience Jonathan's personal account with Skye Bank

ECONOMIC and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigators have frozen another bank account belonging to former first lady Dame Patience Jonathan believed to have been opened and operated in her own name.

 

Earlier this month, the (EFCC) froze Dame Jonathan's Skye Bank account, containing about $31m, after it emerged that large sums of money had been regularly deposited in it while her husband was in office. In response, Dame Jonathan wrote to the acting chairman of the EFCC Ibrahim Magu, saying the cash was for the payment of the medical bills she incurred in London in 2013.

 

In a further development, the EFCC has now frozen her personal account, titled Patience Ibifaka Jonathan, which is also domiciled in Skye Bank. According to the EFCC, the move had become necessary due to the prima facie case established against former president Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s wife.

 

As part of investigations into alleged diversion against a former special adviser to ex-president Waripamowei Dudafa, the anti-graft agency had frozen four companies’ accounts in Skye Bank with a balance of $15.5m. However, before the EFCC could arraign the four companies in court, Dame Jonathan deposed to an affidavit, claiming that the money belonged to her.

 

Despite Dame Jonathan's claims, however, the EFCC arraigned the four companies –Pluto Property and Investment Company, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company, Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company and Globus Integrated Service. All four companies pleaded guilty and the EFCC has already begun moves to ensure that the money is forfeited permanently to the federal government.