A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of seven million dollars discovered in the vault of a Providus Bank branch in Ikoyi, Lagos.

Justice Emeka Nwite issued the ruling on Monday after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) moved an application for the permanent forfeiture of the funds to the federal government.

The anti-graft agency said the money was linked to Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Limited.

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The EFCC explained that the funds were not credited to any known customer’s account but were kept in the bank’s vault under suspicious circumstances.

An investigator, Emmanuel Okeibunor, stated in an affidavit that the bank failed to file a suspicious transaction report with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).

According to Okeibunor, bank staff claimed the money was kept on behalf of the company’s managing director, who in turn denied depositing it.

She claimed instead that the sum represented a loan she obtained from Providus Bank, which she had yet to repay.

The EFCC first secured an interim order of forfeiture on August 27.

At a subsequent hearing, a lawyer, Gbenga Akande, appeared for an unnamed interested party but later failed to disclose the identity.

On Monday, another lawyer, Darlington Ozurumba, appeared in court but did not oppose the EFCC’s final forfeiture application.

Justice Nwite ruled that the application was meritorious and ordered that the money be forfeited to the federal government.