EFCC MAKES SINGLE LARGEST ASSET RECOVERY
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On Monday, December 2, 2024, Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie rendered a decision about the final forfeiture of a 150,500 square meter estate in Abuja that contained 753 duplexes and other residential units. Since its founding in 2003, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC, has recovered more assets than any other. The estate is located in the Lokogoma District of Abuja on Plot 109 Cadastral Zone C09.
In accordance with the EFCC’s mandate and policy directive to ensure that corrupt and dishonest people do not profit from their illegal acts, a former top government official forfeited the property to the federal government. In this case, the Commission based its argument on Section 44 (2) B of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s 199 Constitution and Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud And Other Fraud Related Offences Act No 14, 2006.
Ruling on the Commission’s application for the final forfeiture of the property, Justice Onwuegbuzie held that the respondent have not shown cause as to why he should not lose 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.”
The road to the final forfeiture of the property was paved by an interim forfeiture order, secured before the same Judge on November 1, 2024. The government official which 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.
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 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.”
Mr. Ola Olukoyede, the Executive Chairman of the Commission, has stated time and time again that asset recovery is essential to combating economic and financial crimes, corruption, and fraud. It also serves as a significant deterrent to those who commit these crimes.
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. 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.”
The Establishment Act of the Commission places huge emphasis on asset recovery. Subject to the provisions of Section 24 of the Act, “whenever the assets and properties of any person arrested under the Act are attached, the Commission shall apply to the court for an interim forfeiture and where a person is arrested for an offence under the Act, the Commission shall immediately trace and attach all the assets and properties of the person acquired as a result of such economic and financial crime and shall thereafter cause to be obtained an interim attachment order from the Court. And where the assets or properties of any person arrested for an offence under the Act has been seized or any assets or property has been seized by the Commission under the Act, the Commission shall cause an application to be made to the Court for an interim order forfeiting the property concerned to the Federal Government and the court shall, if satisfied that there is prima facie evidence that the property concerned is liable to forfeiture, make an interim order forfeiting the property to the Federal Government, which the Commission would usually escalate to earn a final forfeiture”.
In this regard, the process was appropriately followed. The asset’s recovery marks a turning point in the EFCC’s history and is unquestionably evidence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s dedication to the fight against corruption.
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