The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has announced a reward of between 2.5 per cent and five per cent for whistleblowers whose information leads to the recovery of stolen Nigerian assets kept abroad.
The EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, disclosed this on Wednesday while speaking at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom.
Olukoyede said credible intelligence, effective asset tracing and cooperation from the judiciary had played important roles in the commission’s efforts to secure non-conviction-based forfeiture orders.
He also called for stronger protection and incentives for whistleblowers, saying citizens with useful information about illicitly transferred Nigerian assets should be encouraged to come forward.
“The citizens must be encouraged with your whistleblower protection. If any of you is privy to where a Nigerian asset is stolen or taken to anywhere in the world, we have an incentive for you,” he said.
He added, “Between 2.5 and 5 per cent is going to go back to you upon recovery.”
The EFCC chairman further disclosed that the commission had secured the forfeiture of cash and assets valued at more than $500m to the Federal Government within the past three years.
“Within three years of my assumption of office, we’ve been able to forfeit both cash and assets worth over half a billion dollars to the government,” Olukoyede said.
He explained that the EFCC could approach the High Court for an order to forfeit assets suspected to be proceeds of crime, noting that the procedure was comparable to systems used in countries such as Australia and Canada.
“You apply ex parte to the High Court upon a probable suspicion of the proceeds of crime,” he said.
Olukoyede cited several cases to illustrate the commission’s asset recovery efforts, including the forfeiture of an aircraft allegedly linked to a $30m bribery case.
According to him, the aircraft was forfeited about three months ago and has since been incorporated into the Presidential Air Fleet.
He also disclosed that the EFCC had secured the forfeiture of a property containing about 753 housing units allegedly linked to a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, who is facing criminal charges in three courts.
The EFCC boss further discussed an investigation involving former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.
He said the commission traced about 57 properties allegedly linked to the former AGF during his eight years in office and had so far secured the forfeiture of about 48 of them.
“Sometimes last year, I opened investigations upon reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office by the immediate past attorney-general of Nigeria,” Olukoyede said.
“We discovered that within eight years of his being in office, we were able to trace about 57 such properties to him. We’ve been able to forfeit about 48.”
He also mentioned a private university allegedly linked to a director in the Federal Ministry of Health, saying the official eventually surrendered the property voluntarily following the commission’s investigation.
Olukoyede said the EFCC would continue to rely on intelligence, legal processes and international cooperation to identify and recover assets suspected to have been acquired through illicit means.
