A Federal High Court in Abuja hasordered an interim forfeiture of the
sums of N 500 m and $ 500 ,000 said to
have been looted from the Paris Club
refunds made by the Federal
Government in favour of the 36 states
of the federation.
The sums of money , said to have been
recovered from two firms, First
Generation Mortgage Bank Limited ,
and Gosh Projects Limited , were
allegedly linked to Governor of
Zamfara State and Chairman of the
Nigeria Governors ’ Forum, Abdulaziz
Yari.
The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission alleged that the sums of
money were fraudulently diverted
from the NGF ’s bank account on the
instruction of Yari .
The commission also alleged , in an
affidavit filed in support of its ex
parte application seeking the interim
forfeiture of the sums of money , that
the N 500 m was diverted to offset
Yari’s personal loan obtained from the
First Generation Mortgage Bank
Limited .
It also alleged that the second firm,
Gosh Projects Limited , utilised most of
the proceeds of the alleged loot,
transferred to it for the purchase of
building materials for Yari ’s 100 - room
hotel project in Lagos.
Gosh Projects was also said to have
used part of the looted funds for the
purchase of treasury bills and
transfers to offshore accounts .
Our correspondent learnt on Tuesday
that Justice Nnamdi Dimgba made the
interim forfeiture order of the sums of
money to the Federal Government in a
ruling delivered on June 30 , 2017 .
The judge also ordered that any person
(s ) or body with interest in the funds
must , within 14 days of the
publication of the interim order of
forfeiture in any national daily , show
cause why an order of final forfeiture
to the Federal Government of the
funds should not be made.
The ruling was delivered in an ex -
parte application jointly filed on June
19 , 2017 , by the Federal Government
of Nigeria (the first applicant ) and the
EFCC (the second applicant ).
First Generation Mortgage Bank
Limited and Gosh Projects Limited ,
from whom the allegedly looted funds
were recovered , were joined as
respondents.
After the application was moved by
the EFCC ’ s counsel , Mr. Ben Ikani , on
June 30 , Justice Dimgba granted the
three prayers sought by the two
applicants.
The judge granted prayers, including
“ an order of interim forfeiture to the
Federal Government of Nigeria (the
first applicant ) of the sum of
N500 , 000 ,000 .00 recovered from the
first respondent (First Generation
Mortgage Bank Ltd .) and presently in
the possession of the second applicant
(EFCC ) in its Recovered Funds Account
domiciled at the Central Bank of
Nigeria.
“ An order of interim forfeiture to the
Federal Republic of Nigeria (first
applicant ) of the sum of US
$ 500 ,000 . 00 , recovered from the
second applicant (Gosh Projects
Limited ) and presently in the
possession of the second applicant
(EFCC ) in its Recovered Funds Account
domiciled with the CBN .”
In an affidavit filed in support of
EFCC ’s ex parte motion, an operative
of the anti - graft agency investigating
the case, Mr. Osas Azonabor, alleged
that investigation had revealed that
the Paris Club refund involved
“ complex case of money laundering. ”
According to him, firms that had no
contract with the Nigerian Governors ’
Forum, which was holding the Paris
Club refunds in its account on behalf
of all the states government , were used
to divert about N 2 .2 bn from the NGF
account .
The investigator alleged that the sum
of N500 m , recovered from First
Generation Mortgage Bank Limited ,
was part of the N 2 . 2 bn “ fraudulently
transferred by the NGF to BINA
Consults and Integrated Services
Limited on December 23 , 2016 .
He accused Yari of giving the
instruction for the transfer of the
N500 m out of the N2 .2 bn to the First
Generation Mortgage Bank Limited .
On how the alleged fraud was
discovered, the investigator said the
commission , sometime in January
2017, received intelligence in respect
of a case against the NGF.
Azonabor stated that the intelligence
alleged conspiracy , criminal
misappropriation of public funds
involving the sum of
N19 , 439 ,225 , 871 .11 out of the Paris
Club refunds made by the Federal
Government in favour of the 36 states
of the federation.
According to the EFCC investigator,
preliminary investigation conducted
by the commission “ revealed that the
36 state governments , under the
auspices of the NGF, engaged the
services of Bizplus GSCL Consortium ” .
He said the state governments also
asked Bizplus GSCL to “ recover
amounts due to the states from first
line charge made on them from 1995
to 2002 for a success fee of two per
cent payable by the NGF .”
The investigator said it was agreed
that two per cent of the total amounts
due to the states as payment to Bizplus
GSCL Consortium .
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