SAN FRANCISCO, July 05, (THEWILL) – The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari-Abubakar, to temporarily forfeit the sums of N500m 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 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).
The money is said to have been recovered from two firms, First Generation Mortgage Bank Limited, and Gosh Projects Limited, which were allegedly linked to Yari who Chairs the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.
According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in an affidavit filed in support of its ex parte application seeking the interim forfeiture of the sums of money, the money were fraudulently diverted from the NGF’s bank account on the instruction of Yari.
The commission alleged that the N500m was diverted to offset Yari’s personal loan obtained from the First Generation Mortgage Bank Limited while the second firm, Gosh Projects Limited, utilised most of the proceeds of the alleged loot for the purchase of building materials for Yari’s 100-room hotel project in Lagos and also used part of the looted funds for the purchase of treasury bills and transfers to offshore accounts.
The presiding judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, in his ruling ordered that any person(s) or body with interest in the funds must, within 14 daysof 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.
Justice Dimgba granted the three prayers sought by the two applicants 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.”
