Court Orders Final Forfeiture of N3.4bn, Abuja and Lagos Properties in Alleged NNPCL Fraud Case

By Correspondent in Abuja.

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday ordered the final forfeiture of N3.4 billion and three properties linked to alleged fraud involving the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), in a decisive ruling that hands the assets over to the Federal Government.

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik granted the order following a motion on notice filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which sought permanent forfeiture of the assets said to be proceeds of unlawful activities.

The forfeited properties include an uncompleted six-bedroom semi-detached duplex with boys’ quarters at Plot 3168, Asokoro District, Abuja; a two-bedroom apartment located at Block 2, Apartment A1, Block EFG, Osborne Foreshore II, Ikoyi, Lagos; and a restaurant building at Plot 102, Cadastral Zone C09, Lokogoma District, Abuja.

All the assets are reportedly in the name of Salihu Nuhu Jamari.

Also forfeited is the sum of N3,440,000,000.00, currently domiciled in the EFCC Recovery Account.

Our reports that the assets were traced to alleged illicit proceeds from three major energy projects awarded by the NNPCL,namely the Maiduguri Emergency Power Project (MEPP), the Abuja Independent Power Project (IPP), and the Benin Gas Plant Project.

Jamari was alleged to have exercised significant influence over these projects during his tenure as Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Gas and Power Investment Company Limited (NGPIC).

At Tuesday’s proceedings, counsel to the interested party, Maryam Abba, informed the court that her client had complied with an earlier directive to file an affidavit of non-contestation.

She confirmed that the affidavit, deposed to by Jamari himself, indicated no objection to the forfeiture.

The EFCC counsel, Martha Babatunde, thereafter moved the motion for final forfeiture, noting that the application, filed on March 17, was supported by an 18-paragraph affidavit, 11 exhibits, and a written address.

“We filed a written address as our oral submission in urging this honourable court to grant our application, the motion, having been unopposed,” she said.

Babatunde further told the court that following an interim forfeiture order granted on February 25, the commission complied with the directive to publish a notice inviting interested parties to show cause why the assets should not be permanently forfeited.

The notice was published in The Punch newspaper on March 3, with no objections received.

In her ruling, Justice Abdulmalik noted that the interested party had raised no opposition to the application.

“Consequently, I grant the order for final forfeiture of the properties and the funds attached to the motion to the Federal Government of Nigeria,” the judge held.

The EFCC, in its application led by Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ekele Iheanacho, argued that the court was empowered under Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, to grant the reliefs sought.

The commission emphasized that the case was a non-conviction based asset forfeiture proceeding.

An affidavit deposed to by EFCC investigator, Abdullahi Aminu, revealed that the probe was triggered by a petition alleging conspiracy, kickbacks, bribery, and money laundering involving some NNPCL officials and contractors.

The ruling marks a significant step in the anti-graft agency’s ongoing efforts to recover assets linked to alleged financial crimes in the nation’s oil and gas sector.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.