The
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested four
domestic servants, including a driver and a houseboy (steward), in
connection to the investigation of Dame Patience Jonathan, the wife of
former President Goodluck Jonathan, over alleged $15 million account.
According
to the EFCC, the arrested servants had accounts opened for them at Skye
Bank of which Mrs. Jonathan was the sole signatory, Punch reports.
In
an affidavit deposited on behalf of the ex-President’s wife, she
admitted to giving millions of dollars to the then Special Adviser to
the President on Domestic Affairs, Waripamowei Dudafa, to open accounts
for her.
Dudafa then opened five accounts for Dame Patience with
only one in her name, while the other four were opened in the names of
companies belonging to Dudafa.
An EFCC detective disclosed that Dudafa used his domestic servants’ names to open the four other accounts.
“We
were investigating Dudafa when we stumbled on those four companies’
domiciliary accounts opened at Skye Bank with a balance of about $15m.
On further investigation, we were able to identify the directors of the
companies,” he said.
“When we detained the directors, we found
out that they were Dudafa’s domestic servants. One of them was a
houseboy while another one was a driver. Their photographs were used in
opening the accounts and their signatures were forged.
“We found
out that these domestic servants were completely innocent because they
had no access to the accounts. We have since released them. The sole
signatory to the accounts was Patience Jonathan and she was issued with a
special card, which is accepted worldwide. She has a separate account,
which was opened in her name and has a balance of $5m.”
The
detective added that lawyer, Amajuoyi Briggs, who allegedly helped
Dudafa to perpetrate the fraud, would also be arraigned while two Skye
Bank executives were also being investigated.
Meanwhile Mrs.
Jonathan has filed a fundamental rights suit against Skye Bank for
freezing her bank accounts and giving the EFCC vital information about
her finances.
She’s demanding the sum of N200m for what she
termed a violation of her right to own personal property under Section
44 of the 1999 Constitution.
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