Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the final confiscation and forfeiture of multi-billion naira assets and investments belonging to former Acting Accountant-General of the Federation (AGoF), Chukwunyere Nnabuoku, to the Federal Government.
The ruling followed a motion on notice filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which sought the permanent forfeiture of assets linked to unlawful activities.
Delivering judgment, Justice Omotosho ruled that the EFCC’s application had merit and aligned with existing legal precedents.
Citing earlier Supreme Court decisions, the judge stated, “In crimes such as money laundering, forfeiture of the proceeds of crime is deemed to be a natural consequence of conviction.”
He added that the apex court’s decisions clearly established that any property acquired through proceeds of crime becomes liable to forfeiture once the owner is convicted.
During proceedings, counsel to the convict argued that the forfeiture application should not proceed because the matter was already on appeal. The defence also claimed that the request amounted to an abuse of court process.
However, Justice Omotosho rejected the argument, explaining that the filing of a notice of appeal does not stop the court from granting a final forfeiture order.
According to the judge, granting the forfeiture would not interfere with the outcome of the appeal process.
On the allegation of abuse of court process, the court held that the convict failed to provide any legal documents showing that a similar forfeiture order had previously been granted or was pending before another court.
“In final analysis, the properties of the convict which have been identified to be purchased from proceeds of crime in this matter are hereby finally forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria,” the judge ruled.
The court subsequently ordered the confiscation and forfeiture of assets listed in Schedules 1, 2 and 3 of the EFCC application after they were established as proceeds of unlawful activities.
According to Schedule 1, several sums held in corporate bank accounts were forfeited to the Federal Government.
These include:
- ₦12,526,206.55 in Temeeo Synergy Concept Limited’s Zenith Bank account
- ₦4,102,570.25 in Turge Global Investment Limited’s Zenith Bank account
- ₦682,904.36 in Laptev Bridge Limited’s Zenith Bank account
- ₦51,279,067.53 in Arafura Transnational Afro Ltd’s Zenith Bank account
- ₦220 million in the EFCC Recovery Account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria, reportedly refunded by Nnabuoku
Under Schedule 2, the court forfeited a five-bedroom standalone duplex located at No. 20, City Gate Estate, Kukwaba, Abuja.
The property was valued at ₦64 million, with an additional ₦3 million reportedly paid as infrastructural development levy.
The EFCC disclosed that the house key had earlier been voluntarily surrendered by Nnabuoku as part of restitution efforts.
Schedule 3 of the application contained extensive stock investments linked to the former AGoF.
The forfeited shares include:
- 10,000,000 shares in Access Holdings
- 7,521,860 shares in First Bank of Nigeria Holdings Plc
- 4,500,000 shares in Guaranty Trust Holding Company
- 10,045,035 shares in UBA Plc
- 5,000,000 shares in Zenith Bank Plc
- 279,620 shares in Berger Paints Nigeria Plc
- 140,183 shares in Cadbury Plc
- 1,000,000 shares in Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc
- 500,000 shares in Nascon Allied Industries Plc
- 551,039 shares in Dangote Cement Plc
- 500,754 shares in Africa Prudential Registrar Plc
- 410,603 shares in United Capital Plc
- 395,000 shares in Dunlop
According to the EFCC, the total market value of the forfeited stocks stood at ₦1,941,805,342 as of March 29.
The anti-graft agency filed the motion marked FHC/ABJ/CR/240/2024 on April 1, requesting the court to permanently confiscate the identified assets and investments after tracing them to unlawful activities linked to the former Acting Accountant-General of the Federation.
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