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Tag: EFCC

  • Five Osborne Towers VIP tenants under EFCC probe

    Five Osborne Towers VIP tenants under EFCC probe

    More facts emerged at the weekend on the cash haul at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was on the trail of some high-profile tenants when it found the $43.4 million, £27,000 and N23 million at House 6, Apartment 7B, it was learnt.

    Four of the tenants have been quizzed; a petition is pending against the fifth.

    The building, it was learnt, had been under surveillance because of the tenants.

    Sources said a whistle-blower alerted the EFCC about the apartment in which the huge cash was recovered.

    When the EFCC moved in, a source said, it was unaware that the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) had a Safe Apartment there.

    The high-profile tenants live in the building.

    The anti-graft agency, according to the sources, had been trying to identify the tenants’ assets, including choice apartments in the towers.

    The whistle-blower, it was learnt, might have had knowledge of the EFCC’s discreet investigation and decided to help.

    But, as it turned out, the apartment does not belong to any of the tenants.

    One of them was said to have sold his stake in the towers.

    A source said: “As at the time of the EFCC’s operation on Wednesday, about five high-profile tenants, who are either being investigated or on the radar of the commission, were suspected to be living or having apartments there.

    “Some of the tenants have been quizzed and others are undergoing investigation. Only one of them has an outstanding petition still being probed by EFCC detectives.”

    “Among them are two former governors, a director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and two prominent lawyers.

    “So, when the whistle-blower raised the red flag, the EFCC was quick to move in without knowing that the 7B apartment is a safe house of the NIA.

    “There was excitement in the Lagos Zonal office of the EFCC about a breakthrough. This was why the operation started between 10am and 11am,” the source said.

    He said EFCC was hesitant to cooperate with the NIA.

    A government official, who pleaded not to be named because of “the sensitivity” of the matter, spoke last night in what transpired between EFCC and NIA.

    He said the EFCC did not set out to ridicule or embarrass the NIA. “It is unfortunate that this is the second time this type of incident is happening between the two agencies,” he said, adding:

    “There was a case of some cash released for contingency assignment by presidential fiat through the NIA account. The release was based on the directive of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

    “When the EFCC began the investigation of some Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), it traced the movement of the cash to NIA account. Instead of seeking explanation from the Director-General of NIA, Ambassador Ayo Oke, the EFCC wrote directly to the Central Bank of Nigeria( CBN) to demand the details of the transactions on the said account.

    “In fact, the documents obtained from CBN included other sensitive operations and overhead. The NIA took exception to it. When President Muhammadu Buhari intervened, he saw all the records that neither NIA DG nor any staff benefited from the said funds.

    “NIA actually transferred the whole money as directed by the ex-President to another dedicated account. Subsequent EFCC investigation did not indict NIA. As for Wednesday’s operation, it was true that DG of NIA rushed to the Acting chairman of EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, who promised to intervene. The NIA boss only asked EFCC to retrieve the cash without making a public show of it in the media.

    “At the time the NIA got in touch with EFCC, the operation was already midway and strategy wise, the EFCC chairman felt it would convey a different impression because a crowd had already gathered in and around the towers.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “The operation was based on the clues from the whistle-blower. The commission acted on intelligence. No one gave EFCC a list of safe houses of NIA. And the cash was also considered huge for NIA’s covert operations.”

    According to the source, the EFCC secured clearance from a senior intelligence officer before continuing its operation after entreaties from the NIA.

    ”I think there was communication gap somewhere and lack of synergy between the security and intelligence agencies,” he said, adding:

    “This incident will serve as a lesson for all the agencies to cooperate and share intelligence.”

    Nigerians have continued to raise questions about the ownership of the mystery cash, which the NIA has claimed.

    Among the questions is that if the money was meant for operations, why has it not been spent in two years? Was there any need for it, considering how long it has stayed unspent?

    Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has said the money belongs to the state. If it is not returned in seven days, said the governor, the state will launch a legal battle to recover it.

    He said it was the proceed of the state’s gas turbine sold by the Rotimi Amaechi administration.

    Amaechi denied the claim, saying he had nothing to do with the money. He challenged Wike to prove the allegation.

    About N16billion has been recovered by the EFCC in the last few days in Lagos.

    About N12,360,814,000 and N4billion were traced to private accounts.

    On December 22, last year, the Federal Government launched the whistle blowing policy to expose fraud and other related crimes in public and private sectors.

    The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, said: “If there is a voluntary return of stolen or concealed public funds or assets on the account of the information provided, the whistle blower may be entitled to anywhere between 2.5 per cent (minimum) and 5.0 per cent (maximum) of the total amount recovered.”

  • Falana advises govt to handle $43.4m cash haul with care

    Falana advises govt to handle $43.4m cash haul with care

    ACTIVIST lawyer Femi Falana yesterday expressed reservations over the controversies trailing the cash found in a residential apartment on Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    He urged the authorities to handle the matter with transparency to avoid a repeat of what happened to the $9.3 million ferried to South Africa in a private jet in 2014.

    According to him, like the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) claimed the ownership of the $9.3 million, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has come out to claim the sum of $43 million, N22 million and £27,000 seized by the EFCC last week.

    Falana’s statement reads: “In 2014, two businessmen (an Israeli and a Nigerian) smuggled $9.3 million to South Africa from Nigeria. It was alleged that the private jet with which the fund was hauled was leased from the then President of Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

    “Both suspects were arrested while the fund was seized.  The additional sum of $5.7 million sent to South Africa through a bank by the duo was also seized. Although the Federal Government was not implicated in the transfer of the fund, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) later claimed that the $15 million was meant for the purchase of arms from a firm in South Africa.

    “As the ONSA could not justify the brazen contravention of the Money Laundering Act of South Africa, the fund was confiscated on the orders of a High Court in Pretoria. When tried last year to confirm from the Attorney-General of the Federation if the forfeited sum of  $15 million had been recovered from the President Jacob Zuma regime, I was asked to direct my enquiry to the ONSA.

    “It is hoped that history is not repeating itself with respect to the embarrassing  attempt by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to claim the sum of $43 million, N22 million and £27,000 seized by the EFCC last week from a flat at a building in Osborne Road, Ikoyi.

    “The Federal Government owes the nation a duty to handle this matter with utmost transparency and circumspection. The NIA should not be allowed to play on the collective intelligence of the Nigerian people. If the Federal Government believes the cock and bull story of the NIA, the danger is that similar hidden funds are going to be officially protected, thereby making a mockery of the whistle-blowing policy of the government.

    “We must avoid a situation whereby huge funds hidden in abandoned buildings and apartments are said to be “operational funds” kept by certain security agencies. If the EFCC had refused to seize the fund last week, the whistle-blower could have rushed to the media to accuse the Buhari administration of keeping stolen money for the 2019 general elections.

    “Apart from the NIA, the Rivers State government is also laying claim to the fund. But instead of giving the Federal Government a seven-day ultimatum to hand over the money to the Rives State government, Governor Nyesom Wike should instruct his attorney-general to file an affidavit at the Federal High Court.

    “But before doing that, he should carefully study the case of FRN v CBN (unreported) where the application of the Delta State government to claim the bribe of $15 million paid to the then EFCC chairman, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, by a former governor of the state was dismissed as the applicant was unable to prove that it owned the money.

    “On a more serious note, are Nigerians to believe that an agency of the federal government kept about $50 million in an apartment without adequate security personnel to guard the money? Why was the fund not kept in a safe in the well-fortified ONSA?  When was the National Intelligence Agency exempted from the Treasury Single Account (TSA)?

    “If the DG of NIA has just gone to brief President Buhari that the fund was collected from former President Goodluck Jonathan for a special project, why did the briefing not take place before now? Since the NIA is in charge of external security why was it necessary to execute projects in the country? How much of such fund is being kept in private homes by the NIA and other security agencies?

    “Since the whistle-blowing policy of the Federal Government commenced why has the NIA not deemed it fit to take the anti-graft agencies into confidence with respect to the fund being kept in Ikoyi for the so called covert operations?

    “Is the Federal Government not being exposed to ridicule when corrupt public officers are competing with government departments to hide millions of United States dollars in dump sites and ‘safe’ apartments? Anyway, since the Federal High Court has granted the application filed by the EFCC for an interim forfeiture of the fund, it is no longer an internal affair of the Buhari administration.  Let the National Intelligence Agency approach the court with convert proof to claim the money.”

  • EFCC, whistle-blowers and vagrant, orphaned loot

    EFCC, whistle-blowers and vagrant, orphaned loot

    IT may amount to jumping the gun to describe the horrendous amounts of money being recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from unorthodox places in recent times as proceeds of crime. But with the exception of a few persons who admit ownership of monies traced to them, nearly all the others have furtively avoided being linked with the recovered loot. Yet each of the recovered loot is so indescribably and mind-bogglingly huge that it is difficult to believe it is owned by one person. In one week alone, and in two separate places, the EFCC discovered N.45bn and N.25bn at two locations. Then shortly before the week came to a close, about N15bn in foreign currencies was also found virtually abandoned. No one has been brave enough to claim ownership of the three stashes. In fact those whose names were mentioned with the apartments where the stashes were found have violently rejected any linkage. All together, in about a week, some N16bn has been found, and not one brave soul has owned up.

    The EFCC gives assurance that the owners of the abandoned monies will be found, for there was not one find that was made without the assistance of a whistle-blower. If no information has been volunteered to the public by the anti-graft agency regarding the ownership of the monies, it does not appear the problem is knowledge of the monies’ circumstances. The reticence may be tactical. The shops where the monies were found have identifiable owners, and the ones meant to be converted into foreign currencies were brought by identifiable owners. There is indeed no mystery about the monies, only bewilderment about the value, and perhaps shock that each recovery seemed to be owned by one person.

    Though neither public commentators nor the anti-graft agency itself can be hasty about ascribing purposes or motives to the stashing of the monies, especially determining whether they are the proceeds of crime, the value of the sums and the contemptuous manner they were disclaimed by their alleged owners suggest they were illicit monies procured and stashed away from the prying eyes of the  authorities. Nor is it clear that somewhere along the line, someone would still not come forward to claim association, especially after the initial shock must have worn off and the alleged owners invented a reasonable explanation to justify the ownership of the humongous sums. A few weeks back, a former Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Andrew Yakubu, had, after initial hesitation, claimed ownership of a little less than $10m found stashed fairly unobtrusively in a nondescript apartment in Kaduna. He attributed it to gifts from unnamed well-wishers, an explanation his neighbours and traducers sneered at. Justifying ownership of more than $43m would be nearly impossible.

    More of such illicit cash will likely be discovered in the coming weeks, often in very unlikely, embarrassing and demeaning places. With the whistle-blower policy firmly in place and immeasurably enticing, owners of illicit money will no longer trust anyone. To them the streets and neighbourhoods are brimming with betrayers. But to the nation, those unlikely ‘loot havens’ are brimming with patriots. Guaranteeing the safety and security of the whistle-blowers, some of them poised to earn in excess of hundreds of millions, will be the government’s next headache, if not nightmare. For no one can tell whether some of the stashed loot are not owned by more than one person, a few of them relentless and vicious.

    The government and its EFCC will henceforth work with a few basic assumptions. If the stashed monies are in naira, they will be difficult to hide, and even more difficult to keep next to the owner. Their owners will need to prepare ready alibis to disown the monies. But if the owners elect to change the monies into foreign currencies, in order perhaps to miniaturise the loot and make it a little easier to launder, how can they tell which forex dealers would keep secrets secret in the face of tempting whistle-blower commission huge enough for any struggling dealer to retire on? These are doubtless difficult times for owners of illicit money. Their monies in the banks are been traced, and sooner or later the trace will point in their direction. And to keep money outside the banking system, whether in septic tanks or abandoned houses and shops, some of them in wealthy areas and others in poor areas, is the greatest dilemmas they face.

    It is not certain that the media has identified whose brilliant idea it was to adopt and adapt the whistle-blowing policy. Whoever were behind the idea have done Nigeria a whole lot of good, far beyond what words can describe. If the policy is not abused, if the authorities can sustain it faithfully, and the whistle-blowers are not double-crossed or short-changed, more illicit cash will be recovered until, in frustration, public officials find it a great disincentive to fiddle with public funds, at least on the scale that now beggars belief. The measure may be insufficient to stamp out corruption, but it will contribute, among a welter of other policies and controls, to reducing it so drastically that funds for infrastructural development should be more readily and reasonably available.

    Even then, the nation still has a lot to do to find an explanation for why, particularly under the last administration, public officials found it so easy to embezzle public funds and for a long time get away with that crime. More, it is important to do a study of the lax controls, bureaucratic and economic structures, and conniving policies that made the looting bazaar flourish so recklessly and so brazenly. Finally, it is also important to document  for posterity the hundreds, and possibly more, of the public officials who promoted and energised the criminal bazaar in the past few years and turned it into such a destructive force. Now the image of the country is worth very little in the estimation of the world. The law, even if it is severely enforced, requites the crime somewhat adequately, but it is doubtful whether, given the insouciance those engaged in that unprecedented and mind-numbing stealing have demonstrated, enough deterrence has been put in place to discourage the crime. But one thing at a time

  • Lawyers to EFCC: Name owner of seized money 

    Lawyers to EFCC: Name owner of seized money 

    Lawyers on Friday urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to name the owner of the huge sums of money found in an Ikoyi apartment.

    Constitutional lawyer and rights activist Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) said the claim that the money belongs to the NIA was “facical”.

    He said there was no way a reasonable person would agree that an intelligence agency would hide money in an apartment.

    The SAN urged EFCC to name and shame the owners, saying someone must own the apartment.
    Ozekhome said: “We seem now fixated to name, shame and humiliate Nigerians with the paint brush of shame, odium, obloquy and denigration.

    “How can about N15billion be found in highbrow Osborne Road, Ikoyi, by no means a back squalid street? How can the equivalent of CIA, keep such hard currency in cash at an unguarded apartment, tucked away with many other apartments in a block of flats, not in a separate heavily fortified and fiercely guarded stand -alone building that has “keep off” carefully imprinted on it?

    “What was it meant for and who approved it and in which budget? Who was the whistleblower that could identify that such money was ‘hidden’ in the bedroom in flat 7A, leaving out flat 7B, yet not knowing who kept the money there or its ownership?

    “Why was EFCC not pictured or recorded on video going into the apartment, before we suddenly saw an arranged ‘counting’ of money? Are there no CCTV in such a highbrow? Can we see the footages, please?
    “Only last week, N49m orphaned sum was ‘arrested’  at Kaduna Airport! Then, suddenly another sum of orphaned N448m was ‘discovered’ in an ownerless shop in Victoria Island. Who owned the plaza? Who sold there? Are there no CCTV there? Can we see them, please?

    “The truth is that all these simulated, ‘arranged’ ‘discoveries’ can only temporarily divert attention from the hunger, squalor, fear, disease, non-performance and cluelessness of this government.

    “But, unfortunately, even lies have their expiry date. Truth is inexorable, immutable and eternal.The chicken will finally come home to roost,” Ozekhome said.

    To him, the report that the money belongs to the NIA was “farcical, heretic, total hogwash, bunkum and balderdash”.

    “Let this government and its minions credit Nigerians with some modicum of sense and capacity to reason, even with their valiant attempts to cow, browbeat and intimidate all opposition elements and critical voices in their so called corruption war.

    “At least, not even the terror halo cast on our individual and collective psyche has dulled our analytical minds.

    “The entire theatricality and Baba Sala’s Alawada Kerikeri buffoonery ought to be reserved for some circus show at the National theatre or Traffagal Square, where comedians and humour merchants entertain. The emergent facts do not show  NIA’s ownership of the money, but the grand cover-up of a serving minister’s ownership of the money.

    “It is so, so sad that all these national diversions are simply geared towards highlighting and emphasising the omnipotence and indispensability of just one man, Ibrahim Magu, as Executive Chairman of the EFCC.

    “We should build strong institutions, not strong individuals. Before Ibrahim Magu, there was a Nuhu Ribadu; there was a Mrs Waziri, and there was an Ibrahim Lamorde.

    “After Magu, there would still be another EFCC Executive Chairman. All these so-called humongous recoveries of orphaned monies are simply geared towards showcasing ineffable efficiency, effectiveness and matchless proficiency. It simply doesn’t work that war.

    “In the USA, wherefrom we borrowed our presidentialism, the equivalent agency works silently behind the scene, only seen, but never heard, except where it becomes absolutely necessary.

    “But, here in Nigeria, the EFCC engages in grotesque media trial, hifalutin and shocking disclosures of orphaned monies whose destinations after the media hype is never known.

    “Where are all the alleged recoveries of vast sums, attached properties, etc, made by the EFCC kept, and how much are they? When asked this question by the Senate during screening, Magu told a shocked and bewildered Nation he did not know!”

    Another SAN, Seyi Sowemimo, said if the money truly belongs to the NIA, the agency should come forward to explain the purpose.

    “I find it strange that a public agency like the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) would come forward and admit that it kept the money there. What could be the reason for keeping such money there? Is it in any way tied to its official duties? What was the purpose?

    “It is only when the NIA discloses this that one can know if it is concerned with its functions and I don’t know if this is something that they should do without disclosing it to maybe an institution like the Central Bank.

    “The position as I have always understood it is that you cannot keep such monies in a private residence. But I am even going beyond that in order to come to a view of the matter. It isn’t enough for the NIA to say ‘it is our money’.

    “They need to go beyond that and say whether it is in any way connected with their statutory duties and how they came about the money. Why should a minor institution like that not have the money in a bank? To me, it does not add up.

    National President, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Malachy Ugwummadu, said the true owner of the money must be exposed.

    “It raises questions of the legality of warehousing those kinds of sums. If the NIA claims it owns the money, to what extent has it also explained the need for such humongous sums kept outside the banking system?
    “Was it for an operational purpose? What purpose requires those kinds of amounts and needed to be done only by the disbursement of the money in the manner that they were found?

    “When were they kept there? For how long have they been there? Who authorised them to be kept there? For what purpose? These are questions that must be answered by anyone who shows up claiming to be the owner of that kind of money.

    “Otherwise, it would raise suspicion that we are looking at a system that encourages even official financial transgressions and that supports the kind of temerity we are seeing,” Ugwummadu said.

  • My connection with building where $43m was found – Mu’azu

    My connection with building where $43m was found – Mu’azu

    The former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Adamu Mu’azu, has clarified his position on the controversy surrounding the ownership of a building where the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) discovered about N12 billion during the week.

    Reports had said the former Bauchi governor is the owner of the building located at 16, Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, where the EFCC, on Wednesday, discovered funds in various currencies.

    Mu’azu, in a statement, said he actually built the said property but later sold to buyers of individual flats in the building.

    He said, “My attention has been drawn to the news making the rounds that I own the building on No.16 Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. I want to state clearly that I built the said property and sold to prospective buyers of individual flats.

    “I have been a property developer since 1983 and I have developed and sold several properties all over the world, the property in question happens to be one of them. I acquired the land and jointly developed it using a bank loan, I obtained about nine years ago.

    “However, all the flats have been sold to prospective buyers in order to pay back the loan. I do not own or occupy any of the apartments. I sold all the apartments through established estate agents as such I have no knowledge or interest in who purchases or rents any of the flats.

    “I commend the efforts of the official of the EFCC and the government’s drive at fighting corruption and also the media in informing the public on illicit and corrupt proceeds.

    “My response is not intended to jeopardise or interfere with the ongoing investigation of the anti- graft and security agencies but to clear the misconception that the house in question belongs to me. I strongly believe that the efforts being made will surely unveil the real owner of such flat and the monies recovered.”

  • EFCC raids ex-governor Aliyu’s home in Minna

    Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) operatives yesterday raided the private home of former Niger State Governor Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu and his farm in Minna, Niger state.

    The Nation learnt the officials arrived at the residence located on Peter Seriki road in Tunga early in the morning.

    Witnesses said the officials spent about two hours searching the house.

    The raided home was the house the former governor stayed during his eight year tenure as he refused to stay in the official Government House.

    After the search, the EFCC officials proceeded to the multi-million naira farm of the former governor, which is located on Mandela Road in Minna.

    The officials may not have made much success in the farm as the former governor was said to have “evacuated a lot of things from the farm immediately after the end of his tenure”.

    Efforts to get some of his family and his media aide to speak proved abortive.

  • Court orders forfeiture of cash found in Lagos to FG

    Court orders forfeiture of cash found in Lagos to FG

    The Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday ordered the temporary forfeiture of $43,449,947 (about N13billion), N23, 218,000 million and £27,800 (about N10.6milion) cash found in Flat 7B, Osborne Towers, 16, Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.

    Justice Muslim Hassan ordered that the money be temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government until the owner shows up.

    The order is based on an ex-parte motion filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The judge directed EFCC to advertise the forfeiture order in a newspaper so that anybody who owns the money can claim it within 14 days.

    The money will be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government should nobody claim it within the period.

    EFCC’s lawyer Rotimi Oyedepo, while moving the motion, said so far, no one has come forward to claim the money.

    He said even the property managers denied knowing who might have left the money there.

    The lawyer prayed Justice Hassan to order the money’s temporary forfeiture in line with Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act 2006.

    Justice Idris granted an order directing the commission to publish the order “for anyone interested in the property (money) to appear within 14 days to show cause as to why a final forfeiture order should not be made in favour of the Federal Government.”

    On how the money was recovered, Oyedepo said EFCC received an intelligence report that various sums of money were stashed in a flat in the building.

    “The intelligence was acted upon. On getting there, we executed a search warrant and recovered $43, 449,947, N23,218,000 and £27,800 in cash.

    “For security reasons, we could not bring the cash before my lord, but we have registered it with an exhibit keeper.

    “Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act empowers my lord to order the interim forfeiture of a property to the Federal Government where the property is found to be unclaimed, or where it is found to be proceeds of an unlawful activity.

    “No one has approached the commission to claim these sums with reasonable evidence confirming the genuine origin of the money we’re seeking to forfeit in the interim.

    “Even the staff of AM Facilities who manage the property could not even give us the identity of the owner of the money surreptitiously kept in that apartment.

    “It is, therefore, my submission that the facts and circumstances of this case have their root tied to the provisions of Section 17 which my lord has the power to enforce pending when whoever has the mind to come and claim it shows up. That is our humble prayer,” Oyedepo said.

    Ruling, Justice Hassan granted EFCC’s prayers, saying: “Based on  the grounds of the application, the affidavit and the written address, I hereby grant the application as prayed.”

    An EFCC source said the commission engaged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to mobilise counting machines to assist in determining the total haul.

    “This is a major breakthrough for this commission. We will not relent in recovering slush funds.

    “The whistle blowing policy has added value to the anti- graft war. Some of those who looted public funds have been avoiding banks.

    “They kept the cash at home and we are on their trail. Imagine what over N11 billion can do in the life of this nation, while the amount traced to private accounts sums up to N4 billion,” the source said.

    About N16 billion has been uncovered by the EFCC in the last few days in Lagos, including the N12,360,814,000 recovered and about N4 billion traced to private accounts.

    The Federal Government had last December 22 launched a whistle blowing policy to expose fraud and other related crimes in the public and the private sectors.

    Section 17 (1) of the Advance Fee Fraud Act says: “Where any property has come into the possession of any officer of the Commission as unclaimed property, or any unclaimed property is found by any officer of the Commission to be in the possession of any other person, body corporate or financial institution, or any property in the possession of any person, body corporate or financial institution is reasonably suspected to be proceeds of some unlawful activity under this Act, the Money Laundering Act of 2004, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act of 2004 or any other law enforceable under the EFCC Act of 2004, the High Court shall upon application made by the Commission, its officers, or any other person authorised by it, and upon being reasonably satisfied that such property is an unclaimed property or proceeds of unlawful activity under the Acts stated in this subsection, make an order that the property or the proceeds from the sale of such property be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

    Justice Hassan adjourned until May 5 for hearing.

     

  • EFCC recovers another huge cash in Lagos apartment

    EFCC recovers another huge cash in Lagos apartment

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday recovered yet another huge sum of dollars, pounds and naira in a Lagos apartment.

    According to the EFCC, about $38m, N23m and £27,000 cash was found during a sting operation by its operatives from the Lagos Zone.

    N250m had earlier been recovered from the Balogun market in Lagos on Monday.

    See Video below of the counting of the money.

    Details later

     

  • EFCC raids ex- Justice minister’s Kano residence

    EFCC raids ex- Justice minister’s Kano residence

    Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday raided the Kano residence of former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Muhammad Bello Adoke.
    The Nation gathered that fully armed EFCC officers stormed number 3 Alu Avenue in Nassarawa GRA Kano and raided the entire residence.
    The operation which lasted for two hours started at about 12.00 noon.
    However, as at the time of filing this story, it could not be established what was recovered, though  iron doors to the house were broken.
    The former Minister, Muhammad Bello Adoke served during the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan.
    Sources revealed that the operatives raided the house and searched rooms, roofing ceiling and water tanks of the residence.
    It was also gathered that the wife of the former Minister left the residence few hours before the EFCC operatives arrived.
    Efforts made to contact the media officer of the EFCC in Kano zone, Mr. Idris Nadabo was not successful. 
  • Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Profile

    Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Profile

    Operations

    The Operations Department is the hub of all investigation activities of the Commission. It has responsibility for the investigation of all cases that fall within the mandate of the Commission. Such cases include infractions that are contrary to the provisions of the Commission’s enabling law; the EFCC Act 2004 as well as a posse of other laws which the Commission has direct responsibility for their enforcement.

    Some of the laws include the Money Laundering Act 2011, the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006, The Failed Banks (Recovery of Debt) and Financial Malpractices in Banks Act and the Miscellaneous Offences Act.

    The Operations Department comprises of the following sections:

    • Advance Fee Fraud
    • Bank Fraud
    • Economic Governance
    • Counter- Terrorism and General Investigation

    The Department is headed by the Director of Operations, who reports directly to the Executive Chairman. All the Heads of Operation in the Zonal Offices report to the Director of Operations.

    The Establishment Act

    Contact