by Azeez Adeniyi

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Friday alleged that the owner of the Osborne flat where the sums of $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23, 218,000 were recently recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission belongs to Folashade Oke.

Mrs. Oke is the wife of the suspended Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ayo Oke.

Oke had claimed the money belonged to the agency.

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The agency said Mrs. Oke made a cash payment of $1.658m for the purchase of the flat between August 25 and September 3, 2015.

Oke allegedly purchased the property in the name of Chobe Ventures Limited, in which she is a director.

The EFCC on Friday tendered the receipt issued by Fine and Country Limited to Chobe Ventures Limited as an exhibit before the Federal High Court in Lagos, where it is seeking an order of final forfeiture of the recovered money to the Federal Government.

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“The circumstances leading to the discovery of the huge sums stockpiled in Flat 7B, Osborne Towers leaves no one in doubt that the act was pursuant to an unlawful activity.

“The very act of making cash payment of $1.6m without going through any financial institution by Mrs. Folashade Oke for the acquisition of Flat 7B, Osborne Towers, is a criminal act punishable by the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Amendment Act. I refer My Lord to sections 1(a), 16(d) and 16(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Amendment Act,” a counsel for the EFCC, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, told the court on Friday.

The EFCC noted that despite the newspaper advertisement of the initial order of April 13, 2017 temporarily forfeiting the money to the Federal Government, no one showed up in court on Friday to show cause why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.