Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s wife, Patience, today denied allegations that her accounts were used to launder huge sums.
In a statement by her media aide, Yemi Akinbode, Mrs Jonathan said she was constrained to respond to “tissues of lies being churned out” by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The statement said: “That Mrs. Patience Ibifaka Jonathan is laying claim to ownership of a whopping sum of $31.7 million dollars fund recovered by EFCC is a complete fallacy. Mrs. Jonathan does not own and has never owned such amount of money. The reason for this lie is best known to the EFCC.
“That another sum of $20 million dollars has been traced to Mrs. Patience Ibifaka Jonathan, is again, another falsehood aimed at hoodwinking the public against Mrs. Jonathan. That a further sum of $5 million dollars has again being traced to another account of Mrs. Patience Jonathan. This is also a fallacy. Continue…
“That Mrs. Patience Jonathan opened accounts in the names of cooks, drivers and artisans. This is
perhaps the biggest falsehood to the knowledge of EFCC.”
The former First Lady picked holes in the authenticity of the representatives of the four companies who pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering.
Her lawyer, Gboyega Oyewole, said she would appeal the validity of the representatives of Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited, Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Avalon Global Property Development Company Limited.
The former First Lady’s counsel alleged that the prosecution presented four unknown people as the companies’ representatives, all of whom he said did not show letters authorising them by their respective boards to represent them in the case.
“This is a clear evidence of the desperation of the prosecution to pull down the former First Lady and confiscate her hard-earned money,” the statement quoted Oyewole as saying.
Mrs Jonathan was quoted as saying that EFCC was bent on denting her image and trampling on her fundamental human rights.
