Nigeria’s Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of 48 property linked to a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to the Nigerian Government.
The judge, in a judgment delivered in Abuja on Wednesday, held that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had established the reasonable suspicion required by law to justify the forfeiture of the assets.
Justice Abdulmalik ruled that Malami, his family members and companies linked to the properties failed to dislodge the commission’s allegation that the assets were acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities.
Prior to delivering the substantive judgment, Justice Abdulmalik dismissed several applications, motions on notice and applications to show cause filed by the respondents, describing them as “wanting in merit.”
She held that the issue before the court was not the ownership of the properties but the legitimacy of the funds used to acquire them.
“The issue before the court is not who owns the property, but how legitimate are the funds used to acquire the property,” the judge said.
She added that the respondents had “not dislodged the reasonable suspicion that the property was acquired by unlawful activities.”
Relying on Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, Justice Abdulmalik granted the EFCC’s application for final forfeiture.
The court, however, discharged the interim forfeiture order in respect of some of the property.
At the hearing, counsel for the EFCC argued that investigations showed the property were acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities and held in the names of individuals and companies acting as fronts for Malami.
The anti-graft agency had, in January, instituted civil forfeiture proceedings seeking the permanent forfeiture of 57 properties valued at N212.8 billion, alleging that they were proceeds of unlawful activities linked to the former AGF.