$7 Million Abandoned at Providus Bank Forfeited to Nigerian Government
A Federal High Court in Abuja has permanently forfeited seven million U.S. dollars that were recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), ruling that the funds now belong to the Federal Government.
The decision was delivered by Justice Emeka Nwite following an application by the EFCC, represented by senior counsel Rotimi Oyedepo. An interim order to freeze the funds was granted on August 27; the EFCC subsequently published the order and filed a compliance affidavit on September 3 to give any interested parties the opportunity to object.
No opposition to the forfeiture was filed. A lawyer, Gbenga Akande, had appeared at an earlier hearing for an unnamed interested party but failed to reveal his client and did not follow through with the affidavit to show cause. At the hearing on September 15, another lawyer, Darlington Ozurumba, appeared but explicitly stated that he did not oppose the EFCC’s motion.
EFCC’s investigation, through an affidavit deposed by investigator Emmanuel Okeibunor, established that the funds were moved in suspicious circumstances into Providus Bank Limited, Lagos, and stored in its vault between March 25 and 26, without being credited to any customer account. It was alleged the deposit was made in connection with the Managing Director of Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Limited, who denied the claim but acknowledged taking a loan of $7 million from the bank.
Furthermore, Providus Bank is accused of failing to file a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit. The recovered money, originally in cash, was later deposited with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Justice Nwite agreed that the EFCC’s application was “meritorious” and granted the final forfeiture, turning over control of the funds to the Federal Government.