• To appeal ruling on nine properties linked to Malami, reward whistleblowers with 5%

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed that the anti-graft agency recovered cash and assets worth more than $500 million for the Federal Government in the past three years.

Not satisfied with the recoveries, it vowed to appeal a Federal High Court ruling that dismissed its application for the final forfeiture of nine properties linked to former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.

The chairman also disclosed that the commission would reward whistleblowers with between 2.5 per cent and five per cent of recovered assets when information they supplied led to the recovery of stolen Nigerian assets.

Olukoyede disclosed this yesterday while delivering a lecture on Economic Crime at the Cambridge International Symposium in the United Kingdom.

“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.

According to him, Nigeria’s legal framework empowers the commission to seek the forfeiture of assets suspected to be proceeds of crime without waiting for a criminal conviction, adding that the provision is similar to legal frameworks in countries such as Australia and Canada.

He cited an aircraft forfeited by a member of the monetary committee of a power project in the country. “We discovered he collected a bribe of about $30 million in Nigeria. He forfeited that about three months ago, and it has been added to the presidential air fleet at the moment,” he added.

ON Malami’s case, he said the commission had traced 57 properties to him and secured final forfeiture orders over 48 of them.

Speaking at the 43rd Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime at Jesus College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, yesterday, the anti-crime czar said the commission was considering an appeal against the court’s decision concerning the remaining nine properties in Kebbi and Kaduna states.

The 2026 symposium, themed ‘Asset Recovery and the Rule of Law – Taking the Profit Out of Crime’, brought together law enforcement officials, judges, prosecutors and experts from various countries to examine strategies for recovering proceeds of crime.

“Sometimes last year, I opened investigations upon reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office by the immediate past Attorney-General of Nigeria. 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.

“Even the nine that were left for him, I’m considering filing an appeal, so that we can take everything away from him, and we’re going to do that,” he said.

The development followed a July 15, 2016, ruling of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which ordered the final forfeiture of 48 properties linked to the former AGF. The properties were earlier placed under an interim forfeiture order in January.

The EFCC chairman also urged members of the public, particularly those with information on assets allegedly moved outside Nigeria, to provide credible intelligence to the commission.

“Citizens must be encouraged with your whistle-blower protection,” he said. “If any of you is privy to where Nigerian assets are stolen or taken to anywhere in the world, we have an incentive for you. Between 2.5 and five per cent will go back to you upon recovery.”