The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of $13 million linked to Lagos socialite, Aisha Achimugu and her company, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Limited, after ruling that the funds were proceeds of fraud and unlawful activities.
Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Justice Emeka Nwite held that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission successfully proved that the money was illegally obtained, while the defendants failed to justify its source.
The court described claims that the $13 million were gifts received by the company through Achimugu as baseless, noting that neither she nor the company provided credible evidence to support the explanation.
Justice Nwite further observed that Achimugu, who was said to have received the alleged gifts, failed to appear in court to defend the claim, while no alleged donors were called as witnesses to substantiate the story.
The court also faulted the company for failing to demonstrate any legitimate business activities that could have generated such funds, stating that no evidence was provided to show how customers made payments or how the money was earned.
Consequently, the court ordered that the $13 million be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
The judgment followed an earlier interim forfeiture order issued on August 22, 2025, after which the EFCC was directed to invite any interested parties to show cause why the funds should not be seized.
The EFCC had argued that the funds were linked to suspicious financial activities, including the acquisition of oil blocks from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, and were allegedly routed through various accounts using unlicensed Bureau de Change operators and intermediaries.
According to the anti-graft agency, investigations revealed that the company made several large payments in dollars to the Federal Government as part of obligations for petroleum prospecting licenses.
However, the EFCC insisted that the $13 million in question was not part of any legitimate earnings but instead traced to unlawful financial activities involving multiple individuals and companies.
In its defense, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Limited maintained that the funds were partly from legitimate business operations and partly from personal gifts to its chief executive, urging the court to reject the EFCC’s forfeiture request.
The court, however, ruled in favour of the EFCC, affirming that the defendants failed to discharge the burden of proof required to retain the funds.
