A discovery of how Unity ban was used to launder billions of naira for former first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan has further shed light on the many nefarious activities of Nigerian banks. Recall that the EFCC boss recently raised alarm on how banks officals are conniving with fraudsters to perpetrate fraud.
Hajiya Bola Shagaya, a businesswoman and socialite in Nigeria, according to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) funneled money running into billions of naira through Unity Bank Plc for former First lady, Patience Jonathan.
EFCC on Unity Bank
The EFCC revealed that efforts to proceed investigation into the “suspicious” Unity Bank account with a balance of N1,902,673,399.93 have been frustrated by Shagaya’s refusal to honour its invitation.
“Her refusal to show up made us unable to conclude investigation and file a charge against her”, the commission said.
Also Oghare Ogbole, a female operative of the EFCC, said that “this in a counter-affidavit which the anti-graft agency filed to oppose a suit filed by Shagaya to challenge the freezing of the Unity Bank account”.
The EFCC had placed a ‘No Debit Order’ on the account, following an interim order given by Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court in Lagos on December 29, 2016.
The businesswoman, however, filed an application, urging the judge to lift the freezing order, saying she was not given fair hearing before her account was frozen.
The EFCC opposed her, insisting that the freezing order was lawfully obtained.
READ MORE: More trouble for Bola Shagaya
The anti-graft agency claimed that the N1.9 billion found in the Unity Bank account was the balance of a total of N3,305,150,000, which Shagaya received as “founder fees” on behalf of an organisation, ‘Women for Change’, spear-headed by Patience Jonathan, a former First Lady.
The EFCC claimed that the N3.3 billion was realised through Shagaya’s “fraudulent activities in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,” where she allegedly “influenced the fraudulent allocation of Dual Purpose Kerosene to Index Petrolube Africa Ltd., with the aid of the former First Lady, Mrs Dame Patience Jonathan”.
According to the EFCC, the N3.3 billion was paid by Index Petrolube Africa Ltd. and its sister company, Autodex Nigeria Limited. The two companies, it said, belong to one Honourable Ezeani ThankGod, adding that the reason for the N3.3 billion payment was to “fraudulently facilitate Dual Purpose Kerosene to ThankGod’s company, Index Petrolube Africa Ltd”.
The Investigation
As a result of the investigation, the anti-graft agency claimed that out of the N3.3 billion, Shagaya had “paid a cumulative sum of N1,212,000,000 to the former First Lady, Mrs Dame Patience Jonathan, through her ‘Women for Change Initiative’ account domiciled in Diamond Bank, to which the former First Lady is the sole signatory”.
It said after paying N1.2 billion to Mrs. Jonathan, Shagaya kept the balance of N1.9 billion for herself by “warehousing” same in her personal bank account in Unity Bank.
The EFCC said it was on this basis that it secured an order by Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court in Lagos on December 29, 2016, to freeze the account.
It said Shagaya would have been charged to court, but she had not honoured its invitation to enable it conclude its investigation.
