ICPC seizes 97 properties and freezes 1, 233 accounts, ex-gov may lose 29 duplexes

Over the last four years, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has taken possession of 97 different properties belonging to various people.

33 buildings, acres of land, and a factory are among the items that Dr Jimoh Olatunde, a former accountant with the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, surrendered to the federal government.

These were made public by the anti-corruption organization in response to a Freedom of Information request.

In a case of official corruption and abuse of authority against Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, a former chairman of the National Examination Council and subsequently JAMB registrar, Olatunde is the prosecution’s witness.

It was thought that the former JAMB accountant served as Ojerinde’s representative.

When Ojerinde was in charge of NECO and JAMB, the ICPC charged him with misusing public monies worth around N5.2 billion in an 18-count complaint.

Olatunde, who was also NECO’s Deputy Director and Head of Treasury, described how Ojerinde reportedly used N341.9 million in funds from the testing organization to establish a printing press, a school, and other structures.

The witness, who appeared before the High Court of Niger State in Minna, stated that N216,297,443 was fraudulently taken out of the NECO account to pay for 17 false printing contracts, which were utilized to set up the printing machine. Justice Abdullahi Mikailu was the trial judge.

Additionally, the anti-graft commission has blocked 1,233 bank accounts between 2019 and the present.

But just 60 of the accounts that belonged to the 15 people under investigation for wrongdoing have already been handed over to the federal government.

The accounts totalled N547,7 million and $669,248.89.

Abdulazeez Yari, a former governor of Zamfara State, owes the federal government N24,289,910.89 and $669,248,89 in losses.

The funds were sent to accounts run by Yari’s businesses, BT Oil and Gas Nigeria Limited and Kayatawa Nigeria Limited, as well as his two personal accounts.

Additionally forfeited to the authorities where the sums of N11,159,674.80 and $301,319.99 were held in a corporation account and N217,388,040 and $311,872 were discovered in a bank account.

Additionally, the ex-governor, who is now on trial for corruption, is claimed to have owned 29 duplexes in various estates in Jabi, Maitama, Kaduna, Zamfara, and Abuja. These duplexes have been put under interim forfeiture by the ICPC.

Yari, a two-term governor, was charged by the ICPC with lying about his wealth declaration.

It charged him with utilizing various businesses to embezzle money from Zamfara State.

The Federal High Court in Abuja’s Justice Taiwo Taiwo later allowed the ICPC’s plea to permanently forfeit the monies.

“Funds in the 60 accounts operated by different banks have finally been forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria and the funds transferred to the ICPC Recovery Account domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria for further transmission to the Consolidated Revenue Fund since the victim in these cases is the Federal Government of Nigeria,” the commission stated in the letter accompanying the FOI request dated September 27, 2022, and signed by the Director, Legal Services, Henry Emore.

(PUNCH)