Emefiele Loses $2.04m, Properties In Court’s Final Forfeiture Order
A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele has lost properties and $2.04m as a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Friday ordered the final forfeiture of the money and choice landed properties.
The final forfeiture order was made by Justice Deinde Dipeolu after holding that the former CBN governor or any other interested party did not contest same after the initial interim forfeiture.
The court ordered the forfeiture of two share certificates of Queensdorf Global Fund Limited Trust, and seven choice landed properties on the ground that the former CBN Governor, Emefiele, was not able to connect his lawful earnings from Zenith Bank and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the acquisition of the properties.
The court insisted that the former CBN Governor was unable to provide documents or links to show that he owned the properties.
Earlier in the court proceedings, Emefiele had denied any connection between him and the companies in whose names the properties were purchased and the companies had also failed to appear before the court to claim the properties.
According to the EFCC, the embattled companies linked to the prperties include; Amrash Ventures Limited, Modern Hotels Limited, Finebury Properties Limited, Fidelity Express Services Limited, H & Y Business Global Limited and SDEM Erectors Nigeria Limited.
Justice Dipeolu held, “the conclusion that can be deduced is that there must be something dark about the acquisition of the properties which Emefiele and the companies does not want to come to light.”
The judge further held “that the interested party has failed to demonstrate any lawful interest in the properties and that they were aquired from his legitimate earnings”.
“I therefore order the final forfeiture to the Federal Government of Nigeria of all those properties…which are reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities.”
Didactic Information Hut reports that the properties are: two fully detached duplexes of identical structures, lying being and situated at No. 17b Hakeem Odumosu Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos; an undeveloped land, measuring 1919.592sqm with Survey Plan No. DS/LS/340 at Oyinkan Abayomi Drive (Formerly Queens Drive), Ikoyi, Lagos; a bungalow at No. 65a Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, (Formerly Queens Drive), Ikoyi, Lagos, a four-bedroom duplex at 12a Probyn Road, Ikoyi, an industrial complex under construction on 22 plots of land in Agbor, Delta State; 8 units of an undetached apartment on a plot measuring 2457.60sqm at No. 8a Adekunle Lawal Road, Ikoyi, and a full duplex together with all its appurtenances on a plot of land measuring 2217.87sqm at 2a Bank Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
