The Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the final forfeiture of 2,041,087,747 shares in Livingtrust Mortgage Bank Plc that are linked to Cititrust Holdings Plc.
The shares, which are valued at N6.67 billion and the sum of N42.46 million, all linked to Cititrust Holdings Plc and its subsidiaries, are to be forfeited.
Justice F.N. Ogazi issued the order following the motion filed by Ahmad A. Usman, on behalf of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The lawyer from the EFCC stated that the shares were bought using investors’ money. Cititrust Holding and several of its subsidiaries are currently being prosecuted by the EFCC for allegedly operating a Ponzi scheme and defrauding investors of significant amounts of money.
In an attempt to retain the assets, Cititrust contested the motion and filed an affidavit to challenge the EFCC’s application.
However, the court concluded that Cititrust submissions are not substantial enough, as EFCC has provided compelling evidence to ascertain the fraudulent source of the assets.
Earlier, the court had granted EFCC an interim forfeiture order on the assets, mandating the publication of these orders in national newspapers to allow interested parties to challenge the order and provide evidence for the assets not to be permanently forfeited.
The court granted the final forfeiture of these assets and mandated that the forfeited assets should be used to compensate duped investors, and the remaining balance should be forfeited to the federal government of Nigeria.
