The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to lift its control or restrictions on N220 million and properties linked to former Acting Accountant General of the Federation, Chukwunyere Anamekwe Nwabuoku, following its non-conviction final forfeiture case.
Justice Umar Mohammed delivered the ruling/judgment in a “non-conviction” originating motion marked FHC/ABJ/177/2024, filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against the ex-AGF.
The development comes weeks after the EFCC separately prosecuted Nwabuoku on a nine-count amended criminal charge before Justice James Omotosho, bordering on money laundering to the tune of N868,465,000, leading to his conviction and sentencing.
Delivering his verdict, Justice Umar held that the burden was on the EFCC to prove to the court that it was entitled to the interim and final forfeiture of the assets in line with the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act.
Umar held that the depositions by both the EFCC legal team and Nwabuoku before him, confirmed the existence of a pending criminal case before Justice James Omotosho.
The judge concluded that, in the circumstances of the case, justice would not be served if properties subject to a criminal trial were finally forfeited to the Federal Government at that stage.
He advised that the EFCC could return with a similar application after the conclusion of the criminal trial, since the properties sought to be forfeited formed part of the said charge.
Accordingly, the judge held that the ex-AGF’s preliminary objection had established sufficient grounds to warrant the grant of his application.
The judge subsequently ordered as follows:
The judge also ordered the EFCC to relinquish, lift, or remove forthwith any control, embargo, limitation, or restrictions imposed on Nwabuoku’s properties listed in Schedules 1 and 2 of the order, and to refrain from doing anything inconsistent with the ownership or proprietary rights of the ex-AGF over the properties.
Recall that Nwabuoku had refunded N220 million and relinquished a property linked to him to the EFCC following the Commission’s investigation into alleged advance fee fraud involving the former public official.
This was disclosed in the EFCC’s ex parte “non-conviction” originating motion marked FHC/ABJ/177/2024 before Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
According to the motion filed by EFCC lawyer E. Iheanacho, SAN, the Commission sought an interim order against several sums in bank accounts linked to the ex-AGF, including:
Iheanacho had urged the court to approve an interim forfeiture of the funds and property described in Schedules 1 and 2, which, according to him, were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
The EFCC further stated that a total sum of N355 million was lodged by different individuals, including Mr. Joseph Gideon, into M Davi Company Enterprises between November 4, 2019, and September 5, 2020, for the benefit of the respondent.
The Commission also alleged that the respondent admitted ownership of the funds in his extrajudicial statement to the EFCC.
The EFCC further alleged that the respondent invested N160 million out of the N355 million in securities and investments.
Those assets were forfeited in the interim by the court.
But Nwabuoku’s legal team filed a preliminary objection, arguing that the same assets were already captured in a criminal charge before Justice James Omotosho, making the suit an abuse of court process.
Ex-AGF Nwabuoku was convicted and sentenced by Justice James Omotosho in a criminal case instituted by the EFCC.
Justice Omotosho also approved the final forfeiture of N1.9 billion worth of shares, N288 million, and a five-bedroom duplex linked to Nwabuoku.
Naijaonpoint reports that former President Muhammadu Buhari, on May 22, 2022, approved the appointment of Mr. Anamekwe Chukwunyere Nwabuoku as Acting Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) to oversee the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF).
The appointment came pending the outcome of the EFCC investigation involving the suspended AGF, Ahmed Idris.
Nwabuoku was later arraigned by the EFCC on fraud charges.
