The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, says the anti-graft agency has forfeited cash and assets worth more than $500 million to the Federal Government in the past three years.
Olukoyede disclosed this on Wednesday while delivering a lecture at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom.
“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 empowers the commission to seek the forfeiture of assets suspected to be proceeds of crime without waiting for a criminal conviction.
He said the provision is similar to legal frameworks in countries such as Australia and Canada.
“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 said the process begins with an application to the high court based on probable suspicion that an asset represents proceeds of crime.
“You apply ex parte to the high court upon a probable suspicion of the proceeds of crime,” he said.
The EFCC chairman cited the recent forfeiture of an aircraft allegedly linked to a member of a monitoring committee for a power project in Nigeria.
According to him, the individual was found to have 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 commission secured the forfeiture within two months of applying to the court.
He also disclosed that the EFCC 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.
Olukoyede further disclosed that the commission had traced 57 properties allegedly linked to Abubakar Malami, the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation, following an investigation into suspected abuse of office.
He said the investigation was opened last year based on what he described as reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office.
“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 allegedly linked to a director in the Federal Ministry of Health.
He said the official voluntarily surrendered the property following an investigation by the commission.
According to Olukoyede, the EFCC’s success in securing non-conviction-based forfeiture orders is largely driven by three factors: the ability of investigators to trace assets, cooperation from the judiciary and access to credible intelligence.
“We also have some of the best investigators around the world,” he said.
He added that a proactive judiciary was essential to the effective implementation of non-conviction-based forfeiture, while credible intelligence remained another critical component of the process.
The EFCC chairman said many of the commission’s investigators had received training at leading institutions around the world, strengthening their capacity to track and recover assets linked to financial crimes.
Olukoyede also called for stronger protection and incentives for whistleblowers, particularly those who provide information leading to the recovery of Nigerian assets taken abroad.
“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.”
He said whistleblowers whose information leads to successful recovery of stolen Nigerian assets could receive significant financial rewards under the commission’s incentive arrangement.
