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Justice Emeka Nwite of the High Court in Abuja on Wednesday granted the final forfeiture of $13 million linked to Aisha Achimugu and her company, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, to the Nigerian government. The sum, suspected to be proceeds of fraudulent activities, had been under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The EFCC had filed a case against Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, alleging that the $13 million was part of the proceeds of unlawful activities. In the final judgment, Justice Nwite dismissed the company’s claim that the funds were gifts received into the company. The court found that the company had failed to provide evidence of how the money was acquired, and no witnesses were presented to support their claim of receiving gifts.
The EFCC had argued that the money was used to pay Signature Bonuses on oil blocks PPL302 and PPL3007, a transaction that, according to their investigation, was financed by funds suspected of being derived from unlawful sources.
Usman Aliyu, an EFCC investigator, said that the funds used by Oceangate were transferred by contractors without any legitimate business relationship with the company. These contractors were said to have transferred public funds, suspected to be from a state government contract, into Oceangate’s account.
Despite Oceangate’s defence, which claimed the funds were partly legitimate earnings and partly gifts to the Group CEO, Aisha Achimugu, the court sided with the EFCC.
The ruling emphasised the lack of evidence for the company’s claims and concluded that the funds should be permanently forfeited to the government.
This decision marks a significant step in the EFCC’s ongoing efforts to combat financial crimes and ensure that illicit wealth does not benefit businesses or individuals involved in corrupt practices.
