Mr. Diepreye Alamieyeseigha

By Tokunbo Adedoja

United States on Thursday executed an asset forfeiture order on $401,931 linked to former Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

This was sequel to a motion granted by US District Court Judge, Rya Zobel on June 13, for a default judgment and forfeiture order filed by the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section.

The executed order, which is the first forfeiture judgment obtained under the Justice Department’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, allows US to dispose of the forfeited funds in accordance with the country's law.

Announcing this on Thursday, the Justice Department said the funds forfeited were held in an investment account in Boston traceable to an undisclosed Alamieyeseigha account in Florida.

The investment account in Boston was said to have been fraudulently opened in the name of one Nicholas Aiyegbemi.

During his prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after he was sacked from office, the former governor had pleaded guilty for his failure to disclose the Florida bank account and to money laundering violations.

A forfeiture complaint had alleged that Alamieyeseigha, who served as governor of Bayelsa State between 1999 and 2005 when he was impeached, was placed on a salary of approximately $81,000 for the entire period, while his declared income for the same period was about $248,000.