A Federal High Court in Abuja has granted an order of interim forfeiture
in relation to 46 property including houses and parcels of land
suspected to be owned by former Chairperson of the Board of the Nigeria
Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Mrs. Ngozi Juliet Olejeme.
Justice Taiwo granted the order in a ruling on a motion ex-parte, marked:
FHC/ABJ/CS/538/2020, argued on Tuesday by Ekele Iheanacho, a lawyer with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice
Taiwo ordered the EFCC to publish the order in a national daily to
enable anyone who is interested in the affected property to show cause
within 14 days why the assets should not be permanently forfeited to the
Federal Government.
The judge fixed July 27 this year as the return date.
The 46 property, listed in documents filed in court, are said to be located in Abuja, Bayelsa and Delta states.
The
EFCC claimed, in a supporting affidavit, that Olejeme acquired the said
property with public funds she allegedly diverted while serving in the
NSITF between 2009and 2015.
One of the property is identified as
N0: 2 Kainji Crescent, off Lake Chad Crescent, Maitama, Abuja (also
known as Plot 738 Cadatral Zone AO5, Maitama, Abuja, the which the EFCC
claimed she acquired in 2012 at N1.3billion.
The EFCC alleged that Olejeme acquired the property using funds received as kickbacks from contractors, through third parties.
It
stated that “During Mrs. Olejeme’s tenure as aforestated, she collected
a cumulative sum of USD $48, 485,127.00 from Chuka Eze (her Account
Officer in First Bank Plc), Henry Sambo Ekhasomi (the Director of
Finance of NSITF), Aliyu Zubairu (Director of Corporate Affairs -NSITF),
Adebayo Aderibigbe and Abubakar Umar.
“The said sum of USD $48,
485,127.00 represents the dollar equivalent of kickbacks paid to BDC
(bureau de change) by contractors/consultants of NSITF on Mrs. Olejeme’s
instructions as well as payments to the BDC operators directly from
NSITF account.
“The personal account of Mrs. Olejeme in First
Bank Plc also received a total in-flow of N22, 200,000.00 from Hybrid
Investment Advisors Ltd, a contractor to NSITF.
“Excellent Solicitors & Consultants is one of the firms engaged by the NSITF as consultant.
“In
the course of time, the firm received over N1,000, 000, 000.00 from the
NSITF under the guise of rendering consultancy services, its proprietor
Max Ozoaka withdrew the monies and either gave same in cash to Mrs.
Olejeme or did transfer to her proxies under her instructions.
“Within
the same period, the sum of N5, 984,059,110 was paid by NSITF under the
guise of consultancy services to Fountain Legal Services and Fountain
Media Consults being the firms owned by Adebayo Adebowale Aderibigbe (a
staff of NSITF).
“As the said payments were made by the NSITF to his
firms’ accounts, Mr. Adebayo Adebowale Aderibigbe gave Mrs. Olejeme a
total cash sum of N505,000,000.00 and US$11,488,550.00 in dollars.
“Mrs.
Olejeme procured the services of bureau de change operators through Mr.
Chuka, who provided the bank accounts of the BDC operators to her.
“Several
consultants/contractors to NSITF transferred money to the bank accounts
of these BDC operators in naira for Mrs. Olejeme while the dollar
equivalent of each naira lodgment would be collected by Mr. Chuka and
handed over to Mrs. Olejeme in her house or through bank transfers.
“Mr;
Chuka was interviewed on various dates including 23rd August, 2016,
19th December, 2016, 4th April, 2017, 2nd May, 2017, 17th July, 2017
19th December, 2017, 27th December, 2017 and 17th May, 2018 and he
consistently narrated the details of the numerous United States dollars
he couriered to Mrs. Olejeme as well as other financial dealings he
carried out for her.
“The BDC Operators which provided the
currency exchange services for Mrs. Olejeme through Mr. Chuka include
Majia BDC, Alim BDC and Ashanbrak .BDC.
“In addition to giving
the currencies to Mr. Chuka for Mrs. Olejeme, there were occasions where
the BDC Operators transferred some of the funds directly to Mrs.
Olejeme’s controlled bank accounts.
“For instance Mrs. Olejeme
received the sum of N350,000,000.00 from the BDCs into her private
company Able Jes Nigeria Ltd’s account in GTBank Plc in two days i.e
(29th and 30th April, 2013).
“In fact on 29th April, 2013, only
Adamu Musa of Majia BDC made cash deposits into the same account
totalling N236,350, 000.00. She (Mrs. Olejeme) is the sole signatory to
the said account.
“Mrs. Olejeme used the huge funds referred to
in the foregoing paragraphs, which funds did not form part of her lawful
income, to acquire property referred to.
“She used third parties
in making payments for all the property so as to conceal and or avoid
the properties/funds from being easily traced directly to her.
“Mrs.
Olejeme hired the services of one Mr. Ifeanyi Njokanma, who is a
property manager to purchase and acquire, on her behalf, most of the
property,” the EFCC said.
1 Comments
This is to inform the general public that individuals can order Dan-gote3xCement directly from the factory at a promo price of 1300 Naira per bag and RICE for 10,000 naira per bag. Transportation and offloading is 300 Naira,minimum for purchase is from 100 bags and above. kindly contact Dangote Group Marketing Manager Alhaji Shehu Abubakar ON O 8 1 3 3 5 4 9 O 5 5 for booking and delivery. Note-Delivery takes two days and it’s nationwide.When Strength matters,Choose 3X.Also order your foreign used heavy equipment(DREDGER,EXCAVATOR,HEAVY DUTY TRUCK AND CONCRETE MIXER ) at the best prices and with a high performance quality.PLEASE TELL OTHERS ABOUT THIS WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY.
ReplyDelete