Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of the sum of N2,739,836,331.31, being proceeds of illegal mining of solid minerals in Endo Community, Nasarawa State.
The Judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, gave the order following an application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC through its counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, asking for the final forfeiture of the sum to the federal government, pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14 of 2006, having reasonably suspected it to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
The court had on July 8, 2024, granted an interim forfeiture order on the sum to the federal government which was published in The Punch Newspaper of August 8, 2024, as required by law to enable anyone with legitimate claim of ownership of the money to show forth.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, Ibrahim Idris, SAN, counsel to the first and first and second defendants, Lideal Mines Ltd and Etong Agrotech Nigeria Ltd, respectively informed the court of his withdrawal of the application on behalf of his clients, challenging the final forfeiture of the sum, which the prosecution welcomed with no objection.
The forfeited funds are in four bank accounts, all belonging to the two defendants. N102,835,460.85, was domiciled in a Zenith Bank account belonging to Lideal Mines Ltd, while N1,288,265,692.11, domiciled in Zenith Bank, N1,187,909,426.70 domiciled in UBA and N160,825,751.70 domiciled in Globus Bank accounts, belonging to Etong Agrotech Nigeria Limited.
Justice Nwite adjourned the matter till October 23, 2024 for the hearing of the application for the final forfeiture of other sums linked to the three defendants.
