EFCC Tightens Grip As Court Orders Final Forfeiture Of 48 Properties Allegedly Linked To Malami

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured a final court order forfeiting 48 properties linked to former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

The order was granted on Wednesday by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

In her ruling, Justice Abdulmalik held that the EFCC had established reasonable grounds to believe the properties were proceeds of unlawful activities and had not been acquired through legitimate sources of income.

The judge stated that the central issue before the court was not the ownership of the properties but whether the funds used to acquire them were lawfully obtained.

Relying on Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, the court granted the EFCC’s application for the final forfeiture of the assets.

“The issue before the court is not who owns the properties, but how legitimate are the funds used to acquire them,” Justice Abdulmalik ruled.

She added that the respondents failed to dispel the reasonable suspicion that the properties were acquired through unlawful means.

However, the court declined the EFCC’s request to permanently forfeit nine other properties located in Kebbi and Kaduna states, ruling that the commission failed to establish that those assets were proceeds of unlawful activities.

Consequently, the interim forfeiture order previously granted in respect of the nine properties was set aside.

During earlier proceedings, EFCC counsel, Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), urged the court to grant the commission’s application for final forfeiture.

Okutepa told the court that the motion, filed in February, was supported by a 47-paragraph affidavit and 46 documentary exhibits contained in three volumes.

He argued that the evidence presented sufficiently established that the properties were acquired through illegitimate means and that Malami and the other respondents had failed to demonstrate otherwise.

According to the EFCC, the respondents “woefully failed to show cause” that the properties were lawfully acquired, urging the court to permanently vest ownership of the assets in the Federal Government.

Counsel to Malami and the other respondents, Adedayo Adedeji (SAN), opposed the application and asked the court to dismiss it.

Adedeji informed the court that the respondents had filed a counter-application on February 27, supported by a 109-paragraph affidavit personally deposed to by Malami.

He argued that the affidavit adequately explained how the properties were acquired and urged the court to discharge the interim forfeiture order.

The defence also accused the EFCC of relying primarily on suspicion rather than concrete evidence directly linking the properties to any criminal activity.