Patience Jonathan Faces Fresh Probe Over N5b Abuja Hotel

Former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan appears to have more
explanation to make to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) besides the $19 million just frozen in her accounts.

Mrs.
Jonathan has just been linked with five choice properties including a
N5billion hotel in Abuja, The Nation gathered yesterday.

The EFCC is currently studying documents on how the Abuja hotel (names withheld) was built.
It
has also dispatched a team of investigators to Yenagoa, Bayelsa State
and Port Harcourt, Rivers State for the purpose of establishing the
ownership of four properties in the two cities.

One
of the pieces of evidence the EFCC has in its possession in its probe
of the ex-First Lady is her cumulative pay and perks as a civil servant
in Bayelsa State where she rose to the post of Permanent Secretary.

Sources said the pay details are far below the $31million which the ex-First Lady claimed as her legitimately earned money.

The
EFCC is insisting that Mrs. Jonathan must account for how she came
about the cash wired into the five accounts to which she is a signatory
or forfeit it to the Federal Government.

One of the sources
familiar with the probe said the money used in acquiring the properties
under investigation appears to be gratification to Mrs. Jonathan when
her husband was in power.

The source said: “Based on intelligence
report, we have isolated five properties allegedly identified with the
ex-First Lady. These properties include a N5billion hotel in Abuja and
four others in Yenagoa and Port Harcourt.

“A special team has
gone to verify all these assets in the affected areas including the
contractors engaged, the mode of payment to them, relevant land
registration documents, and associates used as fronts.

“In the
next few days, we will start questioning all those involved in the
acquisition or building of the assets. We are lucky that this
investigation has a lot of e-transaction and computerization components.
There is no hiding place for anyone involved.

“If at the end of
the day the five assets belong to the ex-First Lady, we will approach
the court to place all these assets under Interim Assets Forfeiture in
line with Sections 28 and 34 of the EFCC (Establishment Act) 2004 and
Section 13(1) of the Federal High Court Act, 2004.”
Section 28 of the
EFCC Act stipulates that: “Where a person is arrested for an offence
under this Act, the Commission shall immediately trace and attach all
the assets and properties of the person acquired as a result of such
economic or financial crime and shall thereafter cause to be obtained an
interim attachment order from the Court.”

Section 13 of the
Federal High Court Act reads in part: “The Court may grant an injunction
or appoint a receiver by an interlocutory order in all cases in which
it appears to the Court to be just or convenient so to do.

“Any such order may be made either unconditionally or on such terms and conditions as the Court thinks just.”

Responding
to a question, the source said: “If our investigation reveals that the
assets are not owned by Mrs. Patience Jonathan, we will return them to
their legitimate owners.”
The Nation also gathered that the EFCC is not about to defreeze Mrs. Jonathan’s accounts under investigation.

“We
have retrieved documents on the pay package and monetized perks of Mrs.
Patience Jonathan when she was a Permanent Secretary in the government
of Bayelsa State. Her total emoluments do not tally with the funds
remitted into the five accounts,”

 an EFCC source said.
“She owes us a
duty to explain how she came about these funds. Our investigation
showed that the funds came from gratifications; it is left to her to
prove otherwise.

“The good thing is that the ex-First Lady was
the one who sued EFCC demanding the release of her $31million. She has a
duty as a former public officer to explain how she earned the funds.
Did she declare these funds in her Assets Declaration Form as a
Permanent Secretary?
“We are happy that the case is in court and the
onus is on her to prove ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that she is the owner
of the funds. If we had initiated the action, some people by now will be
accusing EFCC of witch-hunt.

“But she went to court to exercise
her rights under the law. The same law demands that you must seek equity
with clean hands. I think the press should take more than a passing
interest in what is going on in the court.”

The anti-graft agency
claimed last week that it has established a prima facie case of money
laundering against the ex-First Lady and 10 others.

The 11 suspects may face trial for money laundering if the recommendation of the investigative team is upheld.
The EFCC declared that “preliminary investigation has also indicted Mrs. Patience Jonathan.”

The
other 10 suspects indicted by the investigative team are a former
Senior Special Assistant ( Domestic / Household and Social Events to the
former President), Dr. Dudafa Waripamo-Owei Emmanuel; Damola Bolodeoku;
Dipo Oshodi; Theodora Varinik; Pluto Property and Investment Company
Limited; Seagate Property Development and Investment Limited; Globus
Integrated Services Limited; Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company
Limited and Skye Bank Plc. The report said in part: “Based on the
investigation so far carried out, it has revealed that the four
fraudulent VISA Platinum USD Card accounts used by Mrs. Patience
Goodluck Jonathan has a cumulative balance of $14,029.881.79 which has
been swept Post No Debit Card category.

“Again, her personal
account, different from the four fraudulent VISA Platinum USD Card
accounts, bears the balance of $5,841,426.17.

“Considering the
above stated findings, we can safely conclude that a prima facie case of
conspiracy to retain proceeds of unlawful activities, retention of the
proceeds of unlawful activities, money laundering contrary to Section
15(3) and 18(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act,
2012 and forgery contrary to Section 1(2) (c) of the Miscellaneous
Offences Act, Cap M17, Laws of the Federation, 2004 have been
established against the aforementioned suspects.”

Also, Mrs.
Jonathan has admitted that she is the owner and signatory to the five
accounts in which the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) found over
$22.3million.

She said she has never received any monies from any unknown sources paid into the five accounts.
But she was silent on the sources of the cash wired into the affected accounts.

She
however explained that the accounts were opened to facilitate her
travel overseas particularly for medical treatment, sundry purchase for
herself and her late mother Mrs. Charity Oba (Mama Sisi).

She
indicted Wampemo-Owei Dudafa who was the Special Adviser on Domestic
Affairs to the former President Dr. Jonathan, and Skye Bank officials
for registering phony companies for four of the five accounts.

A
statement by her Media Office said: “Sometime in 2013, following the
advice of top officials of the EFCC then in the company of Wampemo-Owei
Dudafa who was the Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs to the former
President Dr. Jonathan, that she should not travel oversees with cash
otherwise she may contravene Money Laundering laws, Mrs. Patience
Jonathan agreed to open accounts with Skye Bank Plc and directed Dudafa
to see to it.

“Dudafa came with two bank managers (Officials) of Skye Bank Plc with the account opening forms which she duly signed.
“These accounts were all dollar based Platinum Visa cards in respect of five accounts.

“When
the bank officials brought the ATM cards for the said accounts of which
she is sole signatory, she discovered to her surprise that only one of
these accounts bore her personal name while four were in the names of
companies not known to her.

“She immediately complained about
this anomaly to Dudafa and the bank officials, Demola Doledeoku and Dipo
Oshodi came back to the villa with forms to change and convert the said
accounts to the personal name of Mrs. Jonathan.

“This was her
firm request which the bank officials promised to effect immediately and
she duly completed account conversion forms and signed the mandate
forms as a the sole signatory, but as it would appear, the said bank
officials did not change the Account names despite her request.

“It
was in 2014 or thereabout that she was given the ATM cards for all the
five accounts with the bank officials promising to exchange the cards
for the four reflecting her correct names. This again, the banks
officials failed to do despite her repeated request.”