The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, says the anti-graft agency has secured the forfeiture of cash and assets worth more than $500 million to the Nigerian government since he assumed office three years ago.
Olukoyede disclosed this on Wednesday, August 26, 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 said Nigeria’s legal framework allows the commission to pursue the forfeiture of assets suspected to be proceeds of crime without waiting for a criminal conviction, similar to provisions 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 explained that the civil forfeiture 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.
He cited the recent forfeiture of an aircraft allegedly linked to a member of a monitoring committee for a power project in Nigeria.
According to Olukoyede, the individual allegedly received a $30 million bribe, resulting in 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 obtained the forfeiture order within two months of approaching the court.
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He 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,” Olukoyede said.
The EFCC chairman further cited an investigation involving Abubakar Malami, the immediate past Attorney-General of Nigeria.
Olukoyede said he opened the investigation last year following what he described as reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office.
He said investigators subsequently traced 57 properties allegedly linked to Malami and secured the forfeiture of 48.
“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.”
Olukoyede also mentioned the forfeiture of a private university allegedly linked to a director in the Federal Ministry of Health, saying the official voluntarily surrendered the property following an EFCC investigation.
He attributed the commission’s ability to obtain non-conviction-based forfeiture orders to three key factors: effective asset tracing, cooperation from the judiciary and access to credible intelligence.
Olukoyede said many EFCC investigators had received training at leading institutions internationally.
“We also have some of the best investigators around the world,” he said.
He stressed that an active and responsive judiciary was essential to the effective use of non-conviction-based forfeiture, while identifying credible intelligence as another critical component of successful investigations.
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 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.”
Olukoyede said such incentives could encourage the public to provide information capable of helping the government recover significant assets traced to Nigeria but moved abroad.