The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, said it has traced an additional $5m to the Skye Bank account of Patience Jonathan, wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Punch newspaper reported that the EFCC had traced four company accounts to a former Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs to ex-President Jonathan, Waripamowei Dudafa, as part of investigations into a money laundering case.
The four bank accounts, according to the anti-graft agency, had a balance of $15m.
The EFCC is currently prosecuting Dudafa and the four companies on money laundering charges and froze the bank accounts.
The four companies involved in the case are Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited, Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Globus Integrated Service Limited.
The Punch reported a source at the EFCC as saying: “While we were investigating Dudafa, we traced the four companies to him. The companies have domiciliary accounts at Skye Bank with a balance of about $15m. So, we obtained a court order and froze the accounts.
“We then traced the directors of the companies who then denied ownership of the accounts. It was later that we were informed that the accounts belonged to Patience Jonathan and that she is the sole signatory to the accounts. She was given a special card which she used in making withdrawals across the world.
“We, therefore, wondered why the accounts were not opened in her name if she had nothing to hide. In fact, we later found out that her personal account, which bears her name, has a balance of $5m. One wonders where a person, who has never held a government position, got the money from. She was not our initial target but she certainly has questions to answer.”
Jonathan’s wife has, however, sued Skye Bank for freezing her bank accounts and giving the EFCC vital information about her finances.
In the fundamental rights suit, Patience is urging the court to compel the EFCC to immediately remove the No Debit Order placed on her accounts.
She is also asking the court to order Skye Bank to pay her the sum of N200m in damages for what she described as a violation of her right to own personal property as provided for under Section 44 of the Nigerian Constitution.
Meanwhile, Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Itse Sagay, SAN, has said that the EFCC has the right to probe Mrs Jonathan since she has admitted ownership of the accounts.
Sagay said that the EFCC Act gave the anti-graft agency the power to investigate anybody who is seen to have more wealth than he ought to have.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, said it was puzzling how the former First Lady, who was a civil servant and never held any government position, could have billions in her bank accounts.
“If you are living a lavish lifestyle and it appears you don’t have the means to have acquired the property and the wealth you have, the EFCC is free to probe you.
“If she is claiming the money belongs to her, she has put herself in a position where she must explain how she earned it.”
The Punch said that attempts to get the comments of the wife of the former President were not successful, and calls and a text message sent to Ikechukwu Eze, Media aide to former President Jonathan, were also not responded to as of 8:45pm on Saturday.