The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday ordered the final forfeiture of 48 properties linked to the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, who is facing money laundering charges.
The court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, held that the properties, allegedly acquired with proceeds of crime, should be permanently seized by the federal government.
It held that Malami, who served as Justice Minister from November 11, 2015, to May 29, 2023, under former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, failed to rebut the reasonable suspicion that the properties were acquired through unlawful activities.
The court dismissed contentions that some of the affected properties belonged to the larger Malami family in Kebbi State.
According to the court, the legal issue was not “who owns the property, but how legitimate were the funds used to acquire them.”
Justice Abdulmalik held that Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act empowered the court to order the final forfeiture of illicitly acquired assets to the government.
The judgment followed an application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Although the anti-graft agency sought the forfeiture of 57 choice properties it said were traced to the former minister, the court held that there was credible evidence establishing the genuine ownership of nine of the listed properties.
The EFCC and Malami had adopted their final written addresses in the matter on May 26.
It will be recalled that the anti-graft agency had earlier secured an interim forfeiture order for the assets, valued at over N212 billion.
According to the anti-graft agency, the properties — spread across three states (Kebbi, Kano, and Kaduna) as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja — were believed to have been acquired with proceeds of crime.
In an ex parte motion brought before the court, the agency said the interim order was needed as a precursor to the final forfeiture of the properties to the federal government.
Malami is currently facing a 16-count money laundering charge.
He was arraigned before the court alongside his son, Abdulaziz, and one of his wives, Hajia Bashir Asabe.
The defendants were alleged to have laundered public funds totalling about N9 billion.
According to the EFCC, the former Justice Minister, in a bid to hide his proceeds of crime, resorted to acquiring choice properties in various cities and states.
Having granted the interim forfeiture order, the court directed the agency to publish, within 14 days, a notice inviting anyone with an interest in any of the properties to appear before it and show cause why they should not be forfeited to the government.
Dissatisfied with the EFCC’s application, Malami’s legal team approached the court to have it set aside, insisting the properties were legitimately acquired.
He told the court that the properties were appropriately listed in various asset declaration forms he filed with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), insisting the EFCC had failed to adduce any prima facie evidence that they were acquired through proceeds of crime.
Accusing the EFCC of suppressing material facts, Malami maintained that the agency moved against him over properties that “were lawfully acquired post-appointment of the respondent/applicant and declared with the Code of Conduct Bureau as legitimate assets of the respondent/applicant, in compliance with the 5th Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in 2019 and 2023.”
He argued that the interim forfeiture order was obtained through “manifest exaggeration, malicious inflation of the value of the assets, and unreasonable and incompetent valuation deliberately manipulated to mislead the court, negatively affecting its discretion in granting an order based on manipulated facts and conclusions deliberately cooked up by the applicant/respondent (EFCC).”
While adopting his final brief of argument, counsel to the EFCC, Mr. Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, prayed the court to grant the final forfeiture order, relying on a 47-paragraph affidavit and 46 exhibits filed in support of the motion.
Okutepa argued that Malami had failed to satisfactorily explain the legitimate sources of the assets and urged the court to order their permanent forfeiture.
In response, Adedayo Adedeji, SAN, who represented the former AGF, urged the court to dismiss the application and set aside the interim forfeiture order earlier granted.
