Justice Folashade Giwa of the Federal High Court, Abuja yesterday ordered the final forfeiture of six properties traced to the general manager of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF), Mr. Goddy Nnadi.
Spkesman for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Wilson Uwujaren disclosed this in a statement.
Nnadi had been investigated for “N2.2 billion, $302,964, €11,000 Euro and £2,000 pounds sterling” found in his account by the defunct Special Presidential Investigation Panel on Recovery of Public Property (SPIP), led Okoi Obono-Obla.
Obono-Obla said the SPIP received a petition that Mr Nnadi operated a corporate account with a hotel named Galbani and Greatwood in Owerri, Imo State.
He said the amount that went into the accounts of Mr. Nnadi from 2011 to 2019 “totals N2.2 billion, $302,964, €11,000 Euro and £2,000 pounds sterling.”
He also said: “two documents of landed property, $1,000 and €200 Euros were recovered” from the civil servant.
It would be recalled that Obono-Obla’s defunct panel secured a federal high court interim forfeiture of the said monies traced to Nnadi accounts.
President Muhammadu Buhari, however, dissolved the SPIP panel on September 17 after his long battle on certificate forgery.
But EFCC said in the statement that Nnadi is facing prosecution for offences bordering on conspiracy, bribery and money laundering.
“He is alleged to have some time in 2006, used the names of some proxies to incorporate Galbani Nigeria Limited with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, after which he opened the company’s bank accounts with Zenith Bank Plc and Ecobank Plc,” said the EFCC.
According to the statement, the properties to be forfeited include a two-storey plaza, located on Plot C46, 5221 Road, Block xxiic Gwarimpa II, Abuja and four detached bungalows, located on Plot NO 77, 525 Road, A Close, Kubwa Estate, Phase IV, Abuja.
In the application, the counsel to the EFCC, E.E. Iheanacho, said there has not been a substantial reason why the initial interim forfeiture order “should not be finally forfeited to the federal government of Nigeria.”
“No cause has been shown as to why the properties under interim forfeiture should not be finally forfeited to the federal government of Nigeria,” and moreover, they are “reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities”.
Iheanacho said the EFCC has complied with the order of the court to publish the interim forfeiture order in a national daily by doing so in Leadership newspaper.
Delivering the judgement, Ms Giwa granted the prayers contained in the EFCC’s application, dated December 2, 2019, having been convinced that the properties were acquired with proceeds of crime.
