A decorated Nigerian Army General, and a distinguished member of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Lieutenant General Jeremiah Useni, has forfeited about N4bn (BPS2mn) to a tiny British colony by the name Jersey.
The Attorney General of the state of Jersey, Mark Temple, had approached the court to seek for the confiscation of the entire deposits made into a bank account between 1989 and 1999.
Jersey Attorney told the royal court that the entire deposits made into the bank account were proceeds of corruption and should be confiscated.
Mark Temple further argued that by the pseudo name used by Senator Jerry Useni to operate the account, Tim Shani, it ran foul of the subsisting banking and financial regulations in Jersey.
Temple averred that since it had been established the honourable Senator and the former gubernatorial candidate of Plateau State, opened the overseas account under the false name of Tim Shani, his access to the money will be denied by the state.
Dissatisfied with the court pronouncement which granted the prayers of the Attorney General, that Senator Useni access to his hard earned savings from 1989 to 1999, should be denied, the Nigerian Senator appeal the verdict.
At the appeal court, the written ruling yet, up held all the prayers of the Attorney General as consented to at the lowere court.
The Senator was prodded to file another appeal to the higher court but he could not further prosecute the matter.
Senator Useni was quoted as saying he was very low on financial resources to engage a lawyer to prosecute the matter to its logical conclusion as provided for in the statutes of the state of Jersey.
Barr Temple explained the points that deflated the defence of Senator Useni were that the court viewed the account as containing ‘tainted money’.
He added that the false identity in the name in which the account was operated, Tmmy Shain, were all reprehensible.
He further explained that by the existing state of Jersey’s Forfeiture of Assets Law 2018, such asset of Senator Useni could be seized without need for conviction at any court of law.
The government attorney explained that; ‘The decision of the Jersey Court of Appeal in this case reconfirms that the forfeiture law is an effective means of depriving persons of property that is reasonably suspected to have been unlawfully obtained.’
He said “The money will now be paid into the Criminal Offences Confiscations Fund and then returned to the people of Nigeria”.
St. Helier, Capital of Jersey, A British Crown
St. Helier, the capital of Jersey, is not in a country but is the capital of a British Crown Dependency. It is located in the Channel Islands. Jersey is a self-governing territory under the sovereignty of the British Crown and is defended and internationally represented by the UK government.
Not part of the UK: While Jersey has a relationship with the United Kingdom, it is a Crown Dependency, not a part of the United Kingdom itself.
Sovereignty: The British Crown is the sovereign, and the UK government handles defense and international representation for Jersey.
Location:
Jersey sits in the Bay of St Malo, 14 miles (22 kilometres) from the French coast and 85 miles (137 kilometres) south of the English coast. Jersey is the biggest of the Channel Islands.
Jersey is only 5 miles (8 kilometres) long and 9 miles (14.5 kilometres) wide.
Languages
English is the main language spoken in Jersey. Other languages include Portuguese, Polish and Jèrriais (the Jersey language).
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