Three hundred and one houses illegally acquired by two public officers in the Federal Capital Territory have been recovered by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other- Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
One of the officers had 241 houses while the other had the remaining 60.
ICPC Chairman Bolaji Owasanoye disclosed this yesterday in Abuja just as the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said that Nigeria needs N6 trillion to overcome its housing deficit.
Both spoke during the inauguration of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee set up to investigate the operations of real estate developers.
Owasanoye, who neither gave the names of the two public officers nor their offices, said the 60 buildings belonging to the second official were built on a large expanse of land in Abuja.
He decried the situation where public officers use real estate investment for money laundering and as a vehicle for hiding ill-gotten wealth
The ICPC said: “Public officers acquire estates in pseudonyms to conceal the illegal origin of funds. This is made possible by the absence of proper documentation, the registration of titles to land and estates in the country, and the non-enforcement of beneficial ownership standards.
“The commission has for example a case in which we recovered 241 houses from a public officer and another one in which we recovered 60 buildings on a large expanse of land from another public officer. Corruption in real estate aids illicit financial flows.
“A tour around Abuja, especially the metropolis and the central area, would show a lot of estates that are built up but empty.
“If they had been constructed with funds that were borrowed at market rates, I don’t think any investor would have such properties empty.
“One way or the other they would put them to use. So, it is suspected that some of those estates have been used to launder ill-gotten public funds.”
He restated that the agency recovered N54 billion after completing the task of the defunct special presidential investigation panel on the recovery of public properties in collaboration with the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).
The panel was raised to investigate some real estate developers who defaulted in remittance and payment of funds due to the government.
Owasanoye accused the Real Estate Developers of Association of Nigeria (REDAN) of working with some unscrupulous persons in the system to thwart the efforts of the government to provide housing for the citizenry.
His words: “Our investigations have led to the recovery of assets and funds, which are either considered to have been diverted that were retrieved in the public interest. In some situations, we have simply ensured that the projects that were completed were delivered to the beneficiaries who had paid for them.
“Furtherance to the above, we conducted a systems study and review of mass housing delivery in the FCT in 2010 and 2011 where it was discovered that members of the Real Estate Developers of Association of Nigeria (REDAN), who had been allocated huge plots of land for mass housing development in the FCT in collaboration with the Federal Government… we found that the developers failed in the payment of counterpart funding and the delivery of infrastructure to project sites. Rather, they resorted to offering and selling the plots to the highest bidderS contrary to the policy.
“Furthermore, some members of REDAN access funds from the Federal Mortgage Bank for mass housing but divert those funds to construct private estates, which are again sold at exorbitant prices to the general public, excluding public officers, who are the main and intended beneficiaries of the projects and structures and even the policies and mandates of the Federal Mortgage Bank.
“The major culprits and criminals, who are orchestrating the problems are the staff of the FCDA(Federal Capital Development Authority) and their collaborators.
“It is very important that the FCT and the agencies under it must make sure that they reduce the opportunity for their own staff in collaboration with outsiders to clone documents that lead to defrauding innocent members of the public, including honest real estate developers.”
A Director in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Daniel Esei, said most of the 8,000 registered real estate firms in the FCT do not comply with the basic standard enunciated under the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 as amended.This, he said, is the reason the sector is a haven for money laundering.
Gbajabiamila, who was represented by the Majority Leader of the House, Alhassan Doguwa, said there are gaps in the relevant legislation that empower some real estate developers.
He accused them of capitalising on the loopholes to operate with impunity, thereby foiling the dreams of hard-working Nigerians.
The Speaker said: “A lack of accountability and regulation in the dealings between these real estate developers and home buyers has caused untold hardship to many already struggling Nigerians, who desire to own their own houses. It is our responsibility to introduce effective regulations to resolve these issues.
“I commend the efforts of the ICPC and EFCC in sanitising the sector. Hardworking Nigerians should not lose their money to fraudulent developers with no consequence. Nigerians are crying out over these sharp practices, and we cannot turn a deaf ear to their cries.”
President of REDAN, Dr. Aliyu Wamakko, denied his members were involved in sharp practices.