Court orders final forfeiture of N449.6m found in Lagos shop

Agency Report

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Friday ordered the final forfeiture of about N449.6 million found in an abandoned Bureau de Change (BDC) shop at Victoria Island, Lagos, to the Federal Government.

The money was recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The forfeiture order was made by Justice Mohammed Aikawa, following a motion on notice taken before him by the commission.

The judge ordered that the money should be forfeited to the federal government as nobody had come forward to claim it.

Aikawa had on April 19 ordered temporary forfeiture of the money and adjourned for one Mohammed Tauheed, who was joined as a respondent or any other interested party, to appear.

When the case was called on Friday, counsel to the EFCC, Mr. Idris Mohammed, told court that the interim order of April 19 was advertised in a newspaper on May 11, to bring the case to the notice of Tauheed and any interested party.

He said apart from the newspaper publication, Tauheed was also served with the motion on notice.

Mohammed urged the judge to order the final forfeiture of the money since neither Tauheed nor anyone else came forward to claim it.

Aikawa, in a short ruling, granted the application.

He said, “This court ordered, among others, that the respondent (Tauheed) and any other interested party should show cause, within 14 days, why the interim forfeiture of N449, 597,000 should not be made final.

“ As far as my record shows, neither the respondent nor any other interested party has filed any affidavit or any other process to show cause why the interim order should not be made final.

“The respondent has, additionally, not filed any process in response to the motion on notice. In the circumstances, I have no option but to grant the application as prayed.

“Accordingly, I hereby order that the sum of N449, 597,000 found in possession of the respondent, which sum is reasonably suspected to be proceeds of an unlawful activity be finally forfeited to the federal government.”

NAN

Newsweb

At Newsweb Express we don't only break the news, we are committed to investigative and developmental journalism

You may also like...

1 Response

  1. March 6, 2024

    … [Trackback]

    […] Info to that Topic: newswebexpress.com/court-orders-final-forfeiture-of-n449-6m-found-in-lagos-shop/ […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *