EFCC secures final forfeiture of vast Abuja estate

EFCC alleged that the government official, from whom the asset was seized, “fraudulently built the estate is being investigated by the EFCC”.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured the final forfeiture of an estate in Abuja, the largest single-asset recovery since the agency’s inception in 2003.

The commission achieved this through an order of final forfeiture issued by a court in Abuja Monday.

The recovered asset is a vast estate in Abuja measuring 150,500 square metres with 753 units of duplexes and other apartments.

The estate located at Cadastral Zone CO9, Lokogoma District of the FCT, Abuja, was recovered from an unnamed “former top brass of the government”, EFCC’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, said in a statement on Monday.

The EFCC said that the estate belonged to a government official being investigated for money laundering. The official’s name was not mentioned.

They described this development as a “milestone in the annals of their operation.”

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja issued the final forfeiture of the estate on Monday upon an application by the EFCC.

According to EFCC, the judge, Jude Onwuegbuzie, made the final forfeiture order, following his earlier interim forfeiture order issued on 1 November.

Ruling on the commission’s application for the final forfeiture of the property on Monday, Mr Onwuegbuzie held that the respondent failed to show cause as to why he should not lose the property.

He ruled that 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.”

EFCC alleged that the government official, from whom the asset was seized, “fraudulently built the estate is being investigated by the EFCC”.

“The forfeiture of the asset is an important modality of depriving the suspect of the proceeds of the crime,” EFCC said in its statement on Monday.

It added, “This is the single largest asset recovery by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, since its inception in 2003. The Estate rests on Plot 109 Cadastral Zone C09, Lokogoma District, Abuja.”

Legal basis

EFCC it relied on section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act No. 14, 2006 and section 44 (2)(b) of the Nigerian constitution as part of its mandate to ensure “that the corrupt and fraudulent do not enjoy the proceeds of their unlaw activities.”

The commission also noted that it had followed due process in ensuring the forfeiture of the property.

EFCC explained that the justification for the forfeiture is derived from Part 2, Section 7 of the EFCC Establishment Act, which stipulates that the EFCC “has power to cause investigations to be conducted as to whether any person, corporate body or organisation 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.”

EFCC also quoted its chair, Ola Olukoyede, as repeatedly describing asset recovery as pivotal in the fight against corruption, economic and financial crimes and a major disincentive against the corrupt and the fraudulent.

Addressing members of the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-corruption recently, he said, “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.”