A Lagos Division of the Federal High
Court Wednesday ordered the final forfeiture of N2.7 billion recovered from
former Chief of Air Staff, Adesola Amosu, to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Mojisola Olatoregun, the judge, made
the order following application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) in June 2018.
The court had earlier granted
an interim order of forfeiture to the sum of N2.2 billion recovered by the EFCC
from Mr Amosu, an air marshal, which it suspected to be proceeds of unlawful
activity.
The judge had also granted an order
for the forfeiture of N190 million recovered from a former Nigeria Air Force
(NAF) Director of Finance and Budget, Olugbenga Gbadebo, an air commodore.
Mrs Olatoregun further ordered the
forfeiture of N101 million recovered from Solomon Enterprises, a company linked
to Mr Amosu.
She had directed the EFCC to publish
the interim order in The Nation and Punch newspapers so that the respondents or
anyone interested can show cause as to why the final order of forfeiture should
not be made in favour of the Federal Government.
Mr Amosu and an interested party,
Bolaji Adigun, an air vice marshal, had filed counter-affidavits arguing that
the funds were proceeds of their personal businesses and not from illegal
activity.
On Wednesday, the judge dismissed
the counter-affidavits, stating that they had failed to provide any facts as to
the level of probability to ascertain if the funds were obtained unlawfully.
“Upon examination of the two
applications asking the interim orders to be set aside, dated July 28, 2018.
from the first respondent and the interested party, I found nothing to set
aside the order, and the applications are hereby dismissed.
“The only conclusion I can reach is
that these funds are proceeds of an unlawful activity.
