The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has announced the single largest asset recovery since its inception in 2003.
This feat followed a ruling by Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory High Court on the final forfeiture of an Abuja estate measuring 150,500 square metres, with 753 units of duplexes and other apartments belonging to a top government official.
A statement by the anti-graft body Monday said, the estate is located on Plot 109 Cadastral Zone C09, Lokogoma District, Abuja.
It said: “The forfeiture of the property to the federal government by a former top brass of the government was pursuant to EFCC’s mandate and policy directive of ensuring that the corrupt and fraudulent do not enjoy the proceeds of their unlawful activities.”
The statement also quoted the EFCC as saying it relied on Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud And Other Fraud Related Offences Act No 14, 2006 and Section 44 (2) B of the Constitution of the 199 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to push its case.
In his ruling, the trial judge, Justice Onwuegbuzie, held that the respondent had not shown cause as to why he should not forfeit 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 judge declared, according to the statement.
“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,” if further added.
The statement further quoted the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, as repeatedly describing asset recovery as pivotal in the fight against corruption, saying it is a major disincentive against the corrupt and the fraudulent.
“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,” Olukoyede said while addressing members of the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption.
…Commission trains 100 officers
Also in a statement, the EFCC said it has trained 100 officers on Forensic Document Examination, Digital Forensics, Fingerprint and Crime Scene Management in Enugu.
This, it said, was part of the continuous efforts to tackle some emerging crimes and build stronger capacities for future challenges.
The statement signed Monday in Abuja by its spokesman, Dele Oyewale, quoted the agency as saying this at a one-day training, which was held in Enugu, with participants from different cadres in attendance.
He said the training, themed: ‘Forensics Revamped: Empowering Investigation’ is an initiative of the Commission’s Forensics and Crime Laboratory Services Department, FCLSD, aimed at enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the Commission’s investigative processes.
The training was focused on improving the laboratory processes, procedures, modernizing forensics techniques, incorporating advanced technologies and providing comprehensive training to first responders.
“Taking the participants on Forensics Document Examination, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE II Joshua Oloye noted that a document can be questioned because of its origin and circumstances regarding its production, adding that in order to arrive at a reliable conclusion, the examiner needs genuine documents for comparing the questioned document. He said that materials for comparison purposes are known as specimens.
“Describing a specimen as a sample of handwriting, signature and documents collected for examination, Oloye listed three types of Specimen which include; Request, Standard and Contemporaneous,” Oyewale stated.
He said the assistant commander equally spoke on how to collect specimens, laying emphasis on the dos and don’ts of collecting specimens.
“Oloye also discussed how documents are marked for examination, features of a request letter and forensics quality control and assurance,” he added.
The spokesperson further said while speaking on digital forensics, Deputy Superintendent of the EFCC, DSE Ladi Akujobi, outlined classes of digital forensics which include: computer forensics, live forensics, mobile forensics, network forensics amongst others.
He said the officers were also exposed to topics like fingerprint and crime scene management, forensics audio, video and image analysis.
Earlier, while declaring the training open, the acting Zonal Director of the Enugu Zonal Directorate of the EFCC, Deputy Commander of the EFCC, DCE Mohammed Shuaib Bello, who was represented by the Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE I Ekerendu Effiong, noted that the Commission had the best forensics experts in West Africa, and urged the participants to optimise the exposure that the training will offer.