Patience Jonathan must explain source of wealth –CACOL
Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), yesterday, demanded that wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, must explain funds used to build a N10 billion hotel in Bayelsa State.
Patience, according to The Financial Times, a United Kingdom newspaper, allegedly inaugurated the hotel, known as Aridolf Resort Wellness and Spa, in Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa State, in April 2015, about a month before the end of her husband’s tenure.
Regardless, CACOL, which recalled in a statement yesterday that Patience was only a permanent secretary in Bayelsa State at a time, said the ex-president’s wife must be made to explain the source of her wealth.
The statement, released by the group’s acting Media Officer, Abiodun Rabiu, quoted the Executive Chairman of CACOL, Debo Adeniran, as saying that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) needed no further petition to invite Patience for questioning.
The group said apart from explaining how she made the money to build the world-class hotel, she must also tell Nigerians how she came about the $20 million found in five bank accounts linked to her.
At the weekend, the EFCC traced an additional $5 million to Patience’s Skye Bank account, after an initial $15 million was also traced to an account opened by her husband’s former aide on Domestic Affairs, Waripamo Dudafa, on her behalf. This brings to $20 million, the total amount so far traced to the former first lady.
As part of investigations into a money laundering case against her husband’s former aide, the commission traced four company accounts to him with a balance of $15 million.
The EFCC, subsequently, charged Dudafa and the four companies with money laundering.
The four companies accounts, which have since been frozen, are Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited, Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Globus Integrated Service Limited.
Patience has sued Skye Bank for N200 million for freezing her bank accounts and giving the EFCC vital information about her finances.
One Sammie Somiari, who deposed to an affidavit on her behalf, claimed that the EFCC placed a ‘No Debit Order’ on the four accounts in July, in the course of probing Dudafa.