The wife of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, says the four
persons who pleaded guilty to money laundering charges on behalf of the
four companies linked to her are mercenaries hired by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission.
The ex-President’s wife stated this in a statement on Thursday by her media aide, Chima Osuji.
She
alleged that the EFCC presented four unknown persons, who were not
authorised by the companies’ boards to plead guilty on behalf of the
companies.
She said it was a ploy by the EFCC to ensure that her hard-earn money was confiscated.
The
ex-President’s wife argued that the EFCC failed to comply with Section
477 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, by not
presenting to the court on Thursday any letter to show that the four
persons were authorised by the companies to represent them.
“This
is a clear evidence of the desperation of the prosecution to pull down
the former First Lady and confiscate her hard-earned money.
“It
is an irony that it was the former First Lady who went to court for the
repatriation of her confiscated money when she realised that the EFCC
and its co-travellers were playing politics with this issue after she
had come out publicly to say that the said money belongs to her and that
she has all evidence to prove the sources of her money. Up till this
very moment, the EFCC has refused to interrogate or invite her for
questioning.
“The biggest twist in court on Thursday was that the
fourth to seventh defendants pleaded guilty to all the 15 counts. It is
clear that these unknown faces were agents of the EFCC, who have been
stage-managed and tutored to come to court to complicate the case as a
strategy to confiscate her money,” the ex-President’s wife’s aide,
Osuji, said.