Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan has picked holes
in the authenticity of the representatives of the four companies who pleaded
guilty on Thursday to charges of money laundering at a Federal High Court in
Lagos, presided over by Justice Babs Kuewumi. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants
told the court through their counsel that their clients were challenging the
validity of the representatives of Pluto Property and Investment Company
Limited; Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited; Trans
Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited; and Avalon Global Property
Development Company Limited on the basis that they failed to produce a letter
of authority to represent the companies as required under section 477 (2) of
the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
The companies are
facing a 15-count 2nd Amended Charge along with Waripamo Dudafa, a former aide
to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, and two others. While Dudafa and the two
others pleaded not guilty, the fourth to seventh defendants whose authenticity
as the true representatives of the company was challenged proceeded to
curiously plead guilty and admitted culpability before the court.
The Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has since frozen the companies’ accounts
with Skye Bank, while Mrs Jonathan has sued the commission and the bank, laying
claims to the accounts. The former First Lady’s through her media aide, Chima
Osuji alleged that the EFCC presented four unknown people as representatives of
the companies, all of who did not show letters authorising them by their
respective boards to represent them in the case. “This is a clear evidence of
the desperation of the prosecution to pull down the former First Lady and
confiscate her hard-earned money,” he quipped.
Osuji stated: “It is
an irony. 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, EFCC has refused to interrogate
or invite her for questioning. He further said: “The biggest twist in court on
Thursday was that the fourth to seventh defendants pleaded guilty to all the
15-count charges. 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 aide reiterated the respect of his
boss for the sanctity and integrity of the judiciary as the bastion of hope for
every citizen of the country. He however expressed disappointment that Mrs.
Jonathan well-earned image was being maligned in the court of public opinion
through the “tissues of lies being churned out by the EFCC in respect of the
matter.”
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