The Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday ordered the permanent forfeiture of a total of N1,442,384,857.84 found in the bank accounts of three firms.
The firms were alleged to have impersonated the consultants engaged by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) to analyse the Paris/London Club loan refunds due to the states of the Federation.
The court gave the ruling following the forfeiture order obtained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The anti-graft agency claimed that the defendants obtained N3.5bn from the Governors’ Forum by making false claims.
Listed as defendants in the final forfeiture application filed before the court were Melrose General Services Limited; WASP Networks Limited; and Thebe Wellness Services.
The firms were accused of impersonating a consortium of consulting firms engaged by the Governors’ Forum for the “Verification, reconciliation and recovery of over-deductions on Paris and London Club loans on the accounts of states and local governments between 1995 and 2002.”
The EFCC said the original firms engaged by the Forum were GSCL Consulting and Bizplus Consulting Services Limited.
An investigator with the commission, Mr Usman Zakari, however, said the alter ego of the first defendant, Melrose General Services Limited, Robert Mbonu, made a false representation to the Forum, causing the Forum to pay N3.5bn to his company on December 14, 2016.
Zakari said the money was credited into the bank account of Melrose General Services Limited, adding that the respondents dissipated and laundered about N2.3billion out of the money between December 15, 2016, and January 20, 2017, leaving a balance of N1.2bn.
He also informed the court that the anti-graft agency had recovered N220m out of the laundered sum from the second and third respondents.
The EFCC had on October 13, 2017, obtained an interim order from Justice Mojisola Olatoregun, placing a “Post No Debit” order on the accounts containing the N1.2bn and N220m.
The judge had made the order following a plea by counsel for the EFCC, Ekene Iheanacho, who said it would best serve the interest of justice for the respondents to be ordered to forfeit the N1.4bn temporarily, to prevent them from dissipating same.
The judge, after granting the interim freezing order last year, directed the EFCC to publish the order in a national daily.
She gave anyone interested in the funds 14 days to appear before her to show cause why the funds should not be forfeited permanently.
Subsequently, one Prince Godwin Maduka and Linas International Limited showed up before the court, praying separately that the funds should be forfeited to them.
Maduka claimed that his firm, Udemgaba Maduka & Associates, had been engaged in 2011 as a consultant by Zamfara State government to help the state recover some hanging funds, with an agreement that it would be paid 20 per cent of the recovered funds.
He urged the court to forfeit the N1.4bn to his company to cover Zamfara State’s alleged indebtedness to him.
But the EFCC opposed Maduka, contending that the suit was not a debt recovery suit and that Zamfara State was not a party to the suit.
In a ruling on Friday, Justice Olatoregun upheld the EFCC’s argument and dismissed Maduka’s claims.
On its own part, Linas International Limited said it was entitled to the payment of $6million from the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.
But Justice Olatoregun equally dismissed its claim, holding that the suit was not a debt recovery suit.
Having dismissed both claims, the judge ordered the permanent forfeiture of the N1.4bn to the Federal Government.
