Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja has affirmed the final forfeiture to the Federal Government, the sum of $13 million linked to a Lagos socialite, Ms Aisha Achimugu and her Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd.
In a judgment on Wednesday, Justice Nwite held that the foreign currency has been well established by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to be proceeds of fraud and unlawful activities.
Delivering judgment in a suit instituted by
Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd to claim the fund, the judge held that the company failed woefully to establish how it came about the money.
On the contrary, Justice Nwite said the EFCC satisfied all requirements for the fund to be classified as proceeds of fraud and to be forfeited to the appropriate authority.
The judge dismissed the claims that the
$13 million was gifts received by Oceangate Engineering Company through Aisha Achimugu, adding that the said Aisha Achimugu never came to the court to show cause on why the huge fund should not be forfeited to the Federal Government.
Justice Nwite also noted that no single person who gave the monetary gift to Aisha Achimugu to the tune of $13 million was called to testify.
The judge held that the burden to establish genuine ownership of the money was not established by the applicant to counter the claims of the anti- graft agency that the money was proceeds of fraud based on its investigation.
According to the judge, Oceangate Engineering Company did not show the business it undertook that fetched it the money and did not also show whether any payment was made to it by any of its customers.
Justice Nwite had on 22 August 2025, granted the anti-graft agency’s ex-parte motion for an interim order forfeiting the sum of $13 million linked to Oceangate Ltd to the Federal Government over allegations that the fund was a proceed of unlawful activity.
The judge had then directed the Commission to publish the order in a national daily for interested person(s) to show cause within 14 days why the fund should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
