EFCC offers 5% reward for tips on stolen Nigerian assets abroad – Olukoyede

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The Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has offered whistleblowers between 2.5 per cent and 5 per cent of recovered stolen Nigerian assets for information leading to the recovery of such assets held abroad.

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Olukoyede disclosed this on Wednesday while delivering a lecture at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom, The Cable reports.

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The anti-graft agency boss mentioned that the ability of its operatives to trace assets, cooperation from the judiciary and access to credible intelligence are significant factors that contribute to the agency’s success in securing non-conviction-based forfeiture orders.

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He also noted that the EFCC has “some of the best investigators around the world.”

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“The citizens must be encouraged with your whistleblower protection. If any of you is privy to where a Nigerian asset is stolen or taken to anywhere in the world, we have an incentive for you. Between 2.5 and 5 per cent is going to go back to you upon recovery,” Olukoyede said, as he addressed participants from other countries on the importance of protecting whistleblowers.

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The EFC boss further revealed that the agency had forfeited cash and assets worth over $500 million to the Federal Government in the past three years.

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“Within three years of my assumption of office, we’ve been able to forfeit both cash and assets worth over half a billion dollars to the government,” he said.

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He cited several cases in which the agency had recorded success, including forfeiture cases involving a former Chairman of the Central Bank of Nigeria and an ex-Attorney-General of the Federation.

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Olukoyede noted that the agency is constitutionally empowered to seek the forfeiture of suspected crime proceeds, beginning with getting an order from the High Court.

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This, he said, is similar to what’s obtainable in Australia and Canada.

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“We have something similar to what is obtainable in Australia and Canada that empowers us to apply for the forfeiture of proceeds of what is suspected to be proceeds of crime.

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“You apply ex parte to the High Court upon a probable suspicion of the proceeds of crime,” Olukoyede explained.

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The EFCC boss recalled an instance in which the agency forfeited an aircraft from an unnamed individual who had been involved in a $30m bribe.

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He said, “This aircraft was forfeited by someone who was supposed to be a member of the monetary committee of a power project in Nigeria. We discovered he collected a bribe of about $30 million in Nigeria.

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“He forfeited that about three months ago, and it has been added to the presidential air fleet at the moment.”

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Olukoyede also cited the forfeiture of a property belonging to an ex-CBN chairman.

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“That property contains about 753 housing units we forfeited from an erstwhile governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. We have criminal charges against him [in] about three courts,” he mentioned.

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Furthermore, the anti-graft agency boss mentioned a scandal that involved the immediate ex-AGF, Abubakar Malami.

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He said that upon suspicious abuse of office levelled against Malami, the agency forfeited about 48 out of about 57 properties allegedly linked to him.

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Olukoyede said, “Sometimes last year, I opened investigations upon reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office by the immediate past attorney-general of Nigeria.

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“We discovered that within eight years of his being in office, we were able to trace about 57 such properties to him. We’ve been able to forfeit about 48.”

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According to the report, Olukoyede also cited the forfeiture of a private university linked to a director in the Federal Ministry of Health, after which the official voluntarily surrendered the property after the commission’s investigation.

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