N450m from Lagos Plaza Forfeited to FG

April 19, 2017

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured an order to seize the N450 million recovered from a shop at LEGICO Shopping Plaza, Victoria Island, Lagos recently.

The order for an interim forfeiture was granted on Wednesday by Justice R.M. Aikwa of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos.

This followed a motion ex-parte filed by a prosecutor with the EFCC, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14, 2006.

In his ruling, Justice Aikawa ordered anyone interested in the money to appear before him at the next adjourned date to show reason why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

The judge also directed the commission to publish in any national daily for anyone to show cause within 14 days why the order for the final forfeiture should not be granted.

Operatives of the EFCC, after receiving a whistle-blower confidential alert, had on Friday, April 7, 2017, uncovered the money in a shop inside the plaza.

The identities of the owners of the two shops, LS 64 and LS 67 that bore signages of Bureau De Change (BDC), could not be immediately known when operatives of the Commission stormed the plaza.

The money, which was stashed in several Ghana Must Go bags, were in N500 and N1000 denominations. They were hidden in one of the shops awaiting conversion into foreign currency.

The case was adjourned to May 19, 2017.

Modupe Gbadeyanka

Modupe Gbadeyanka is a fast-rising journalist with Business Post Nigeria. Her passion for journalism is amazing. She is willing to learn more with a view to becoming one of the best pen-pushers in Nigeria. Her role models are the duo of CNN's Richard Quest and Christiane Amanpour.

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