Update: Court Orders Forfeiture Of Seized $43m, £27,800, N23m To Federal Government

The Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the temporary forfeiture of the sums of $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218,000, uncovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from a house in the Ikoyi area of Lagos on Wednesday to the Federal Government.



The court, in a ruling on Thursday afternoon by Justice Muslim Hassan, ordered that the funds be temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government.

The judge adjourned till May 5, 2017, for anyone interested in the funds to show up before him to show cause why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government. The judge made the forfeiture order shortly after entertaining an ex parte application by a counsel for the EFCC, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo.

The EFCC had, on Wednesday evening, raided Flat 7B No. 16 Osborne Road, Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, where it uncovered $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218,000 kept in iron cabinets and ‘Ghana must go’ sacks in the said apartment which were under security locks.

Moving the ex parte application for the interim forfeiture of the money, Oyedepo told the court that no one had come forward to claim it, adding that the staff of one AM Facilities, managing the apartment where the huge sums were found, could not provide the anti-graft agency with information on the possible owner of the money.