Court Orders Ex-AGF Property Recovery and Forfeiture of $899,900

The interim forfeiture of $899,900 and N304,490,160.95 that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission recovered from former Accountant General of the Federation Ahmed Idris has been mandated by the Federal Capital Territory High Court (EFCC).

Also, the court took away 15 properties in Kano and Abuja that had been found with Idris.

Kano City Mall/Al Ikhlas Shopping Mall in Mandwawarti, Kano; a one-story shopping complex in Ladanai, Kano; corner shops in Ladanai, Kano; a duplex in Karsana, Abuja; a royal duplex in Deneji Quarters, Kano; and a duplex in Plot 271, New Jersey Street, Efab Blue Fountain Estate, Abuja are some of the properties linked to Id

The EFCC is prosecuting Idris and others on 14 counts of theft and money laundering, totaling N109 billion.

On Tuesday, December 13, 2022, Justice M.A. Hassan issued the order in his decision on the EFCC’s motion ex parte number, M/1149/2022. Wilson Uwujaren, the spokesperson for the anti-corruption movement, said as much in a statement.

In its motion, the EFCC asked the court to temporarily seize or forfeit the assets listed in the application’s schedule until the main issue in Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Ahmed Idris and Others, Charge No. FCT, HC/CR/299/2022, was heard and decided.

The Commission had asked the court to grant, among other things, orders approving the interim “management of the assets and properties in the Schedule to this application to the applicant,” “to open an interest-bearing account where monies realized from the management of the assets and properties of the persons stated in the Schedule to this application shall be paid,” and “freezing the bank accounts of the persons referred to as account holders or the parties thereto.”

Despite further directing that the recovery account sought to be formed by the applicant “must be in the name of the Commission as a recovery account and the information of the account shall be reported back to the Court within one week of opening,” Justice Hassan allowed the petition as it was requested.

In the meantime, Mohammed Kudu Usman’s second respondent had nine properties in the states of Abuja, Niger, and Nasarawa taken away.

They include land plots with shops in the Chanchaga Local Government Area of Niger State, a 37-hectare farm with livestock along the Minna-Bida Road in Niger State, bungalow flats in Gwarimpa, Abuja, bungalow structures in Masaka, Nasarawa State, plots of land in Dutse Alhaji, Abuja, and 13 land plots in Integrated City, Minna, Niger State.