$15m Scandal: Patience Jonathan Accuses EFCC Of Hiring Mercenaries | Punch

The wife of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, says the four persons who pleaded guilty to money laundering charges on behalf of the four companies linked to her are mercenaries hired by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The ex-President’s wife stated this in a statement on Thursday by her media aide, Chima Osuji.

She alleged that the EFCC presented four unknown persons, who were not authorised by the companies’ boards to plead guilty on behalf of the companies.

She said it was a ploy by the EFCC to ensure that her hard-earn money was confiscated.

The ex-President’s wife argued that the EFCC failed to comply with Section 477 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, by not presenting to the court on Thursday any letter to show that the four persons were authorised by the companies to represent them.

“This is a clear evidence of the desperation of the prosecution to pull down the former First Lady and confiscate her hard-earned money.

“It is an irony that it was the former First Lady who went to court for the repatriation of her confiscated money when she realised that the EFCC and its co-travellers were playing politics with this issue after she had come out publicly to say that the said money belongs to her and that she has all evidence to prove the sources of her money. Up till this very moment, the EFCC has refused to interrogate or invite her for questioning.

“The biggest twist in court on Thursday was that the fourth to seventh defendants pleaded guilty to all the 15 counts. It is clear that these unknown faces were agents of the EFCC, who have been stage-managed and tutored to come to court to complicate the case as a strategy to confiscate her money,” the ex-President’s wife’s aide, Osuji, said.

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3 Comments

  1. The same EFCC was quick not to investigate the chief of army staff : Gen. Burutai when he was accused of owning properties in Dubai after only few months in office; claiming that those belonged to his wives. Does Mrs. Jonathan look such a dummy, that, she would serve as the dep gov wife; gov wife; vice president’s wife and president’s wife for for close to 16yrs and would not make such an amount. EFCC, you better do your job well.

  2. This is laughable. Does she knows the meaning of “hard-earned”? What hard work did she do to have had such humongous amount of dollars in her account? It’s easy for any one to deny their accomplices in a case of fraud when the chips are down. Maybe she has a joint business with the king of Saudi Arabia. She should simply go to court and prove how she came about the money, afterall she has sued the EFCC. All this noise about mercenaries won’t change the resolve of the EFCC to probe the source of the money.

    • Sometimes its sad to see educated people being manipulated like this, i said it frim the beginig, its never an offence fir the first lady to have so much money, its only an offence when there is no evidence… Please did u read what was written? She has not been invited, i wonder why?
      I hate to make any conclusions, in every nonSENSe, there is always an element of SENSe.
      We use to have, am not sure we have anymore, the investigative Journalism… Someone else have to did inti all this matters on ground.

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