Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday ordered the final forfeiture of $13 million linked to businesswoman Aisha Achimugu and her company, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Limited, to the Federal Government.
The order followed a suit involving the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which had sought to permanently seize the funds on the grounds that they were proceeds of unlawful activities.
In his judgment, Justice Nwite held that Oceangate failed to provide sufficient evidence to establish legitimate ownership of the money. He ruled that the EFCC had successfully demonstrated that the funds were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of fraud.
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The court dismissed claims by the company that the $13 million represented gifts to its Group Chief Executive Officer, Aisha Achimugu. The judge noted that neither Achimugu nor any alleged donors appeared before the court to substantiate the claim.
He further held that the company failed to show any legitimate business transactions or services that could have generated such funds, nor did it provide evidence of payments from clients.
“The burden of proof placed on the applicant to establish lawful ownership of the funds has not been discharged,” the judge ruled.
The forfeiture followed an earlier interim order granted on August 22, 2025, which directed the EFCC to publish a notice inviting interested parties to show cause why the funds should not be permanently forfeited. No valid claim was subsequently established to overturn the interim order.
In an affidavit presented before the court, an EFCC investigator, Usman Aliyu, stated that the commission acted on intelligence indicating that Oceangate used funds suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities to acquire oil assets, including petroleum prospecting licences.
Aliyu alleged that the funds used by the company to pay signature bonuses for oil blocks were traced to transfers from contractors handling projects for a state government, despite no known business relationship between the contractors and Oceangate.
He further described Oceangate as a shell company allegedly used to channel and deploy illicit funds into the oil and gas sector.
The court ultimately upheld the EFCC’s position, ordering that the funds be forfeited to the Federal Government.
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