The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed that the anti-graft agency has, within the past three years, secured the forfeiture of cash and assets worth more than half a billion dollars to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Olukoyede made the disclosure on Wednesday while delivering a lecture at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom, where he highlighted Nigeria’s approach to non-conviction-based asset forfeiture and the progress made by the EFCC in recovering proceeds suspected to have been derived from criminal activities.
“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,” he said.
The EFCC chairman explained that Nigeria’s legal framework, similar to provisions in countries such as Australia and Canada, empowers the commission to seek the forfeiture of assets suspected to be proceeds of crime without necessarily waiting for a criminal conviction.
According to him, the process begins with an application to the High Court for a civil forfeiture order based on reasonable or probable suspicion that the assets constitute proceeds of crime.
“You apply ex parte to the high court upon a probable suspicion of the proceeds of crime,” Olukoyede said.
He cited the recent forfeiture of an aircraft allegedly linked to an individual who served on a monitoring committee for a power project in Nigeria. Olukoyede said the individual was found to have allegedly collected a $30 million bribe, after which the aircraft was forfeited.
“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 disclosed that the forfeiture was completed about three months ago and that the aircraft had since been added to the Presidential Air Fleet. He further said the commission secured the forfeiture within two months of applying to the court.
Olukoyede also disclosed that the EFCC had secured the forfeiture of a property comprising 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,” he said.
The EFCC chairman further cited an investigation involving Abubakar Malami, Nigeria’s immediate past Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. He said the investigation was opened last year following what he described as reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office.
According to Olukoyede, the investigation led to the tracing of about 57 properties allegedly linked to the former Attorney-General during his eight years in office, with approximately 48 of the properties subsequently forfeited.
“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.”
He also disclosed that the commission had secured the forfeiture of a private university allegedly linked to a director in the Federal Ministry of Health, who, according to Olukoyede, voluntarily surrendered the property following the EFCC’s investigation.
The EFCC chairman attributed the commission’s growing success in obtaining non-conviction-based forfeiture orders to three key factors: the ability of its operatives to effectively trace assets, cooperation from the judiciary and access to credible intelligence.
He said the commission had invested significantly in developing the capacity of its investigators, many of whom had received training at leading institutions around the world.
“We also have some of the best investigators around the world,” Olukoyede said.
He stressed, however, that effective non-conviction-based forfeiture also requires a proactive judiciary capable of responding appropriately to applications for forfeiture orders. He identified credible intelligence as the third critical component in the asset recovery process.
Olukoyede also called for stronger protection and incentives for whistleblowers, particularly individuals who provide credible information leading to the recovery of stolen Nigerian assets concealed or transferred outside the country.
“The citizens must be encouraged with your whistleblower protection,” he said.
He disclosed that the EFCC provides financial incentives to whistleblowers whose information results in successful asset recovery, with rewards ranging from 2.5 to five per cent of the recovered assets.
“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,” he said.
Olukoyede said such incentives could provide significant financial rewards to individuals whose intelligence enables the commission to trace, recover and ultimately return stolen Nigerian assets to the government.
The EFCC chairman’s remarks underscored the commission’s increasing reliance on non-conviction-based forfeiture, international cooperation, intelligence-led investigations and specialised asset-tracing capabilities in its efforts to recover proceeds of crime and return them to the Nigerian government.
Source: TheCable
