Following the claims laid by the former first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, on the $15 million frozen by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the anti-graft agency has traced an additional $5million to the ex-first lady’s Skye Bank account.
The latest development brings the total amount traced by the EFCC to Patience Jonathan to $20million.
Speaking on the case which led to the much recent revelation of the ex-first lady’s account with Skye Bank, an EFCC source said: “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.”
The former first lady in light of the recent development had filed a suit against the management of her financial institution, Skye Bank, demanding N200million for the breach of her fundamental rights.
In Patience Jonathan’s suit, she demanded that her account be unfrozen as there was no adequate legal backing for the action to have been taken.
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