The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has forfeited an aircraft allegedly linked to a member of a monitoring committee for a Nigerian power project who allegedly collected a $30m bribe.
EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, disclosed this on Wednesday while speaking at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom.
Olukoyede said the aircraft was forfeited through the commission’s non-conviction-based asset forfeiture process and had subsequently been added to Nigeria’s presidential air fleet.
He said the individual linked to the aircraft was a member of a monitoring committee overseeing a power project and was discovered to have received about $30m in bribes.
“This aircraft was forfeited by someone who was supposed to be a member of monitoring committee of a power project in Nigeria. We discovered he collected a bribe of about $30m in Nigeria,” Olukoyede said.
He added that the aircraft was forfeited about three months ago after the EFCC secured a court order, with the process reportedly completed within two months of the commission’s application.
The EFCC boss explained that Nigerian law empowers the commission to seek the forfeiture of assets suspected to be proceeds of crime without waiting for the conclusion of a criminal trial.
According to him, the process begins with an ex parte application to a High Court based on probable suspicion that an asset represents proceeds of crime.
Olukoyede said the mechanism was comparable to provisions in countries such as Australia and Canada, stressing that effective asset tracing, credible intelligence and judicial cooperation remained crucial to successful recoveries.
The EFCC chairman also disclosed that the commission had forfeited cash and other assets worth more than $500m to the Federal Government within the past three years.
“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.
Olukoyede further disclosed that the commission had forfeited a property comprising about 753 housing units allegedly linked to a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, who he said was facing criminal charges in three courts.
He also revealed that the EFCC had traced 57 properties allegedly linked to the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, following an investigation into suspected abuse of office.
The EFCC chairman said about 48 of the 57 properties had so far been forfeited.
“Sometimes last year, I opened investigations upon reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office by the immediate past attorney-general of Nigeria.
“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 said.
Olukoyede also cited the forfeiture of a private university allegedly linked to a director in the Federal Ministry of Health, saying the individual voluntarily surrendered the property following an EFCC investigation.
The EFCC chairman called for stronger protection and incentives for whistleblowers who provide information leading to the recovery of stolen Nigerian assets.
He said whistleblowers could receive between 2.5 per cent and five per cent of recovered assets under the commission’s incentive arrangement.
“The citizens must be encouraged with your whistleblower protection,” Olukoyede 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 strengthening whistleblower protection, improving intelligence gathering and maintaining judicial cooperation would further enhance the country’s ability to recover assets allegedly acquired through corruption and financial crimes.
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