THE Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, says the anti-graft agency has forfeited cash and assets worth over half a billion dollars to the Nigerian government in the past three years.
Olukoyede made the disclosure on Wednesday while delivering a lecture at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom.
News Point Nigeria reports that the EFCC chairman said, “Within three years of my assumption of office, we’ve been able to forfeit both cash and assets worth over half a billion dollars to the government.”
The EFCC chairman said Nigeria’s legal framework, similar to those obtainable in countries such as Australia and Canada, allows the commission to seek forfeiture of assets suspected to be proceeds of crime without waiting for a criminal conviction.
“We have similar to what is obtainable in Australia and Canada that empowers us to apply the forfeiture to proceeds of what is suspected to be proceeds of crime,” he said.
Olukoyede noted that the process of securing civil forfeiture begins with an application to the High Court.
“You apply ex parte to the High Court upon a probable suspicion of the proceeds of crime,” he said.
He cited the recent forfeiture of an aircraft linked to a member of a monitoring committee for a power project in Nigeria.
According to Olukoyede, the individual allegedly collected a $30 million bribe, leading to the forfeiture of the aircraft.
“This aircraft was forfeited by someone who was supposed to be a member of monetary committee of a power project in Nigeria. We discovered he collected a bribe of about $30 million in Nigeria,” he said.
“He forfeited that about three months ago and it has been added to the presidential air fleet at the moment.”
Olukoyede said the forfeiture was secured within two months of the commission’s application to the court.
He also disclosed that the commission had forfeited a property containing about 753 housing units from a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“That property contains about 753 housing units we forfeited from an erstwhile governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. We have criminal charges against him [in] about three courts,” Olukoyede said.
The EFCC chairman further cited an investigation involving Abubakar Malami, the immediate past Attorney-General of Nigeria.
Olukoyede said the investigation, which began last year following what he described as reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office, led to the tracing of 57 properties allegedly linked to the former Attorney-General.
“Sometimes last year, I opened investigations upon reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office by the immediate past attorney-general of Nigeria,” he said.
“We discovered that within eight years of his being in office, we were able to trace about 57 such properties to him. We’ve been able to forfeit about 48.”
The EFCC chairman also cited the forfeiture of a private university linked to a director in the Federal Ministry of Health.
He said the official voluntarily surrendered the property after the commission’s investigation.
Olukoyede attributed the commission’s success in securing non-conviction-based forfeiture orders to three factors: the ability of its operatives to trace assets, cooperation from the judiciary and access to credible intelligence.
He said many of the commission’s investigators had received training at leading institutions around the world.
“We also have some of the best investigators around the world,” he said.
Olukoyede said a proactive judiciary was also necessary for non-conviction-based forfeiture to work effectively. He identified credible intelligence as the third factor.
The EFCC chairman also called for stronger protection and incentives for whistleblowers, particularly those who provide information leading to the recovery of stolen Nigerian assets located outside the country.
“The citizens must be encouraged with your whistleblower protection,” he said.
“If any of you is privy to where Nigerian asset is stolen or taken to anywhere in the world, we have an incentive for you. Between 2.5 and 5 percent is going to go back to you upon recovery.”
Olukoyede said such information could result in significant financial rewards for whistleblowers whose intelligence leads to successful asset recovery.