EFCC Secures Over $500M in Forfeited Assets in 3 Years

Ola Olukoyede, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), announced that the commission has secured the forfeiture of cash and assets exceeding $500 million to the Federal Government of Nigeria over the past three years. This announcement was made during a lecture at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom.

Olukoyede explained that the EFCC's success is attributed to Nigeria's legal framework, which allows the agency to seek asset forfeiture without a prior criminal conviction. Among the forfeited assets is an aircraft linked to a member of a power project monitoring committee, who allegedly accepted a $30 million bribe.

Additionally, a property containing 753 housing units was forfeited from a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with ongoing criminal charges against him. The EFCC also secured the forfeiture of 48 properties linked to the immediate past Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, due to suspected abuse of office.