The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it has recorded its single largest asset recovery described as first of its kind since the commission’s inception in 2003.
On Monday, Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie issued a verdict on the final forfeiture of an estate located on Plot 109 Cadastral Zone C09, Lokogoma District in Abuja, which measures 150,500 square metres and has 753 duplexes and various flats.
The anti-graft agency, in a tweet on Monday, said the property was forfeited to the Federal Government by a former influential government official whose identity has to be made public.
The Commission used Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud And Other Fraud Related Offences Act No 14, 2006 and Section 44 (2) B of the 199 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to support their case.
Justice Onwuegbuzie ruled that the respondent did not demonstrate a valid reason to not forfeit the property “which has been reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities, the property is hereby finally forfeited to the federal government.”
On November 1, 2024, the same Judge issued an interim forfeiture order which paved the way for the property’s eventual forfeiture.
The agency said the forfeiture is in line with Part 2, Section 7 of the EFCC Establishment Act, which states that the anti-graft agency “has power to cause investigations to be conducted as to whether any person, corporate body or organization has committed any offence under this Act or other law relating to economic and financial crimes and cause investigations to be conducted into the properties of any person if it appears to the Commission that the person’s lifestyle and extent of the properties are not justified by his source of income.”
Meanwhile, the EFCC said government officials who developed the estate are being investigated.
Mr. Ola Olukoyede, the Executive Chairman of the Commission, had last week told members of the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-corruption: “If you understand the intricacies involved in financial crimes investigation and prosecution you will discover that to recover one billion naira is war.
“So, I told my people that the moment we start investigation we must also start asset tracing because asset recovery is pivotal in the anti-corruption fight; and one of the potent instruments that you can deploy as an anti-corruption agency for an effective fight is asset tracing and recovery.
“If you allow the corrupt or those that you are investigating to have access to the proceeds of their crime, they will fight you with it. So one of the ways to weaken them is to deprive them of the proceeds of their crime.
“ So, our modus operandi has changed simultaneously. The moment we begin investigation, we begin asset tracing. That was what helped us to make our recoveries.”
EFCC Records Biggest Asset Recovery, Seizes 753-Duplex Abuja Estate is first published on The Whistler Newspaper