Patience Jonathan: $15m was for my medical bills

Patience Jonathan, wife of former president Goodluck Jonathan, says the money in the accounts of four companies with domestic servants as directors, are for her foreign medical bills and other private expenses, Punch reports.

Patience, in a letter written by her lawyers to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said she was the sole signatory to the four Skye Bank accounts that housed the sum of $15 million.

The EFCC had frozen the accounts belonging to Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited, Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Globus Integrated Service Limited.

But in the letter, Patience’s lawyers, said their client had been operating the accounts in the past without hindrance and was shocked to find she could not use her cards on July 7, 2016.

“It is noteworthy to emphasise that the said accounts, which were in US dollar denomination, were card-based accounts and our client is the sole signatory to these accounts,” Patience’s lawyers said.

They said when they contacted Skye bank, the bank said the accounts were placed on a no debit order on the instructions of the EFCC.

The lawyers asked the EFCC to unfreeze the account because patience is a law abiding citizen.

They accused the EFCC of harassing their client and short changing her of personal funds.

“Despite the foregoing, our client, who is a law-abiding citizen, has watched with surprise how efforts are being made surreptitiously to indirectly harass or harangue her and short-change her of her personal funds in breach of her fundamental human rights,” the lawyers wrote.

“We urge you sir, to kindly intervene to stop the untoward and wrongful actions of your officials to embarrass, inconvenience and short-change our client.”