ordered the temporary forfeiture of the sum of
N449, 750, 000 found in an abandoned Bureau de
Change shop in Victoria Island by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission.
The forfeiture order was made by Justice Rilawan
Aikawa following an ex parte application taken
before him by the anti -graft agency .
An investigator with the EFCC, Moses Awolusi, said
in the affidavit filed before the judge that the shop
numbered LS64, located on at Legico Shopping Plaza ,
at Victoria island, Lagos had not been opened for two
years.
Awolusi said the money was found on April 7, 2017
in several “ Ghana Must Go” sacks , adding that the
EFCC recovered the money after investigating
intelligence information received on one Mohammed
Tauheed .
According to the investigator , Tauheed allegedly
conspired with the owner of the abandoned shop to
launder the money .
Awolusi said Tauheed had earlier been brought to
the EFCC office by the Chairman and Vice -Chairman
of Legico shopping Plaza, Mr. Sulaiman Daba and
Alhaji Ishaq Ayandiran , respectively .
He said during the visit , Tauheed told the anti -graft
agency that he received the money in cash from a
serving government official , whose name was not
disclosed for security reasons.
He said Tauheed , in the presence of his lawyer , later
agreed to return the money to the Federal
Government , which is the rightful owner of the
funds strongly suspected to the proceeds of criminal
activities of the unnamed serving government
official .
The EFCC said it would be in the interest of justice
for the court to order the temporary forfeiture of the
money to the Federal Government .
After entertaining the application on Wednesday ,
Justice Aikawa ordered that the N449, 750, 000 should
be temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government .
He ordered the EFCC to advertise the order in a
national newspaper and gave 14 days for any
interested party to appear in court to give reasons
why the money should not be permanently forfeited
to the Federal Government.
The judge adjourned the matter till May 19, 2017 .
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