Justice
Mojisola Olatoregun of a Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday ordered the
unfreezing of the domiciliary account of Patience Jonathan which contained
$5,842,316.66.
The
judge had in December 2016 ordered the freezing of the former first lady’s account
domiciled in Sky Bank, following an application brought by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which claimed that the money was proceed of
crime.
Also
affected by the said order were the accounts of five companies holding N7.4
billion and the account of Esther Oba holding $429,381.87.
In
an affidavit in support of ex-parte originating summons sworn to by Abdulahi
Tukur an investigating officer of EFCC and filed before the court by EFCC
prosecutor Rotimi Oyedepo Iseoluwa, Tukur, averred that Dame Patience
Jonathan’s money in Skye Bank with current balance of $5,842,316.66 was
presumably suspected to be proceed of crime.
But
Mrs. Jonathan, through his lawyer, Adedayo Adedipe (SAN), in an application,
had urged the court to unfreeze the account on the ground that Patience
Jonathan was not a party in the suit leading to the order made by the court.
In
a ruling yesterday Justice Olatoregun upheld the submission of Mr. Adedipe and
discharged the order freezing the account.
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