Ex Nigerian First Lady Wants Frozen Accounts Worth $31.5 million
Former First Lady of Nigeria, Patience Jonathan, has filed a suit asking the Federal High Court to unfreeze various bank accounts at the country’s Skye Bank which she is claiming ownership of.
Jonathan is asking the court to unfreeze five bank accounts – that are US dollar accounts – as she claims they belong to her. The accounts allegedly totals to $31.5 million.
The accounts were frozen back on July as part of an ongoing corruption investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The commission has been working for over a year now on the corruption case where more than ten billion dollars went missing from Nigeria’s state treasury. And while they have detained several people during the investigation, they have not successfully prosecuted anyone.
In addition to asking the Federal High Court to unfreeze these particular bank accounts. Jonathan’s lawyer also allegedly sent a letter to the investigating committee, saying that $15 million of the total amount was a ‘government payment’ for medical bills the former First Lady had incurred in the UK back in 2013.
In response to this action by Jonathan, a civil society group called the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, demanded that Nigeria’s attorney general immediately undertake criminal proceedings against Patience Jonathan.
Jonathan’s husband, Goodluck Jonathan, was voted out of office in May of 2015 and was replaced by current president, Muhammadu Buhari.
