The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says the company linked to the forfeited estate in Abuja has denied ownership of the property.
On Monday, the anti-graft agency secured the final forfeiture of an estate in the federal capital territory (FCT).
The estate sits on 150,500 square metres in the country’s capital and contains 753 units of duplexes.
Dele Oyewale, the EFCC spokesperson, said the recovery was the agency’s largest since its inception in 2003.
However, the anti-graft agency did not immediately name the owner of the property—a development that many Nigerians criticised.
‘NO ATTEMPT TO COVER-UP’
The EFCC spokesperson said the criticism that trailed the forfeiture of the estate is “unacceptable”.
Oyewale, in a statement on Tuesday, said the legal action that led to the forfeiture of the estate was instituted against the property and not the owners in line with provisions of the Advance Fee Fraud Act.
He said the company flagged during the investigation denied ownership of the estate after newspaper publication.
“The allegation of a cover-up of the identity of the promoters of the estate stands logic on its head in the sense that the proceedings for the forfeiture of the estate were in line with section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, which is a civil proceeding that allows for action-in-rem rather than action-in-personam,” the statement reads.
“The latter allows legal actions against a property and not an individual, especially in a situation of an unclaimed property.
“This act allows you to take up a forfeiture proceeding against a chattel that is not a juristic person. This is exactly what the commission did in respect of the estate.
“The proceedings that yielded the final forfeiture of the estate were products of actionable intelligence available to the commission.
“The company flagged by our investigations denied ownership of the estate following publications made in leading national newspapers.
“On the basis of this, the commission approached the court for an order of final forfeiture, which Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the federal capital territory, FCT, high court granted on Monday, December 2, 2024.
“It is important to note that the substantive criminal investigation on the matter still continues. It will be unprofessional of the EFCC to go to town by mentioning names of individuals whose identities were not directly linked to any title document of the properties.
“The EFCC is unwavering in its no-sacred-cow approach to every matter, and together we will make Nigeria greater.”
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