Court orders forfeiture of N449m found in abandoned Bureau De Change

The sum of N449,750,000 found in an abandoned Bureau de Change office on Victoria Island by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has been forfeited temporarily to the anti-graft agency.

According to a report by Punch Newspaper, the Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday, April 19l, 2017 ordered the temporary forfeiture.

The forfeiture order was reportedly given by Justice Rilwan Aikawa following an ex-parte application by the anti-graft agency.

An EFCC investigator, Moses Awolusi, reportedly told the court in the affidavit filed before the judge that the office numbered LS64, located on at Legico Shopping Plaza had not been opened for two years.

The investigator further said that the money , which was found on April 7, 2017 in several “Ghana Must Go” sacks, was recovered after investigating intelligence information received from Mohammed Tauheed.

As a result of the investigator's affidavit, Justice Aikawa ordered the EFCC to advertise the order in a national newspaper and gave 14 days for any interested party to appear in court to give reasons why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

He further adjourned the matter till May 19, 2017.