The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday affirmed the final forfeiture of $13 million linked to businesswoman Aisha Achimugu and her company, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Limited, to the Federal Government.
Delivering judgment, Justice Emeka Nwite held that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had sufficiently established that the funds were proceeds of fraud and unlawful activities.
The ruling followed a suit filed by Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Limited seeking to reclaim the money earlier seized by the anti-graft agency.
Justice Nwite ruled that the company failed to provide a satisfactory explanation regarding the source of the funds, adding that the EFCC met all legal requirements necessary to justify the forfeiture.
The judge further held that the firm did not demonstrate any verifiable business activity capable of generating the funds and failed to present evidence of payments from customers.
The court had earlier, on August 22, 2025, granted an ex parte application by the EFCC for the interim forfeiture of the sum and directed the commission to publish the order in a national newspaper, inviting interested parties to show cause within 14 days why the funds should not be permanently forfeited.
In an affidavit deposed to by an EFCC investigator, Usman Aliyu, the commission said it received intelligence indicating that Oceangate allegedly used funds suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities to acquire oil blocks from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.
The company, however, argued that the money originated from legitimate business earnings and gifts made to its Group Chief Executive Officer, Achimugu.
The EFCC countered that an audit report submitted by the company was unreliable, noting that the auditor admitted he did not review the firm’s financial statements before preparing the report.
Aliyu also stated that Achimugu, in her extra-judicial statement, acknowledged exercising significant control over the company and admitted that it had not executed any contract within the oil and gas sector.
The commission urged the court to uphold the forfeiture in the interest of justice, maintaining that the funds were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.
Justice Nwite subsequently dismissed the company’s claims and upheld the final forfeiture of the $13 million to the Federal Government.
The court had earlier, on September 15, 2025, ordered the final forfeiture of an additional $7 million recovered from a Providus Bank branch in Ikoyi, Lagos, after no claimant came forward to establish ownership.
𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁𝘀𝗔𝗽𝗽 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝗧𝗼 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗔𝘀 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗗𝗿𝗼𝗽!
