A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja has given an order of interim forfeiture of assets of the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, who is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for stealing N109 billion from the federal government.
According to the EFCC, the assets ordered for temporal forfeiture to the federal government by the presiding judge of the FCT High Court, M.A Hassan, on a motion exparte filed by the EFCC. include $899,900, N304,490,160.95, and 15 properties in Kano and Abuja. The order of interim forfeiture of the assets of Idris was said to be given in a judgement delivered on December 13.
EFCC chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, had at the State House, Abuja, on December 15 disclosed that the commission confiscated over N30 billion assets from the former AG Idris since his arrest in May.
Bawa at the 62nd Ministerial Media Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said: “on the case of the former Accountant General of the Federation, Idris Ahmed, we at the EFCC have recovered N30 billion from him.”
EFCC had in the motion marked M/1149/2022, sought “an order of interim attachment/forfeiture of the properties in the Schedule to the application, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive case in Charge No. FCT/ HC/CR/299/2022, Federal Republic of Nigeria V. Ahmed Idris and Others.”
The commission further requested an order for interim “management of the assets and properties in the Schedule to this application to the applicant”.
The commission also demanded the court to make an order “to open an interest yielding account where monies realised from the management of the assets and properties of the persons stated in the Schedule to this application shall be paid”; including an order “freezing the Bank Accounts of the persons referred to as account holders/ or the bank accounts set out in the Schedule to this application”.
It maintained that all orders prayed for are to subsist “pending the hearing and determination of the substantive case.”
The presiding judge granted all the motion made, and also ordered that the recovery account sought to be opened by the applicant, ” shall be in the name of the Commission as Recovery Account and the details of the Account shall be reported back to the Court within one week of opening”.
The properties of Idris now placed on an order of interim forfeiture include Kano City Mall/Al Ikhlas Shopping Mall at Mandwawarti, Kano; one storey Shopping Complex at Ladanai, Kano, Corner Shops at Ladanai, Kano; a duplex at Karsana, Abuja; Royal Duplex at Deneji Quarters, Kano and a Duplex at Plot 271, New Jersey Street, Efab Blue Fountain Estate, Abuja.
Nine properties linked to the second respondent, Mohammed Kudu Usman, located in Abuja, Niger and Nasarawa states, also ordered for interim forfeite include plots of land with shops in Chanchaga Local Government Area of Niger State, a 37 hectares of farmland with livestock located along Minna-Bida Road in Niger State, Bungalow flats at Gwarimpa, Abuja, Bungalow Buildings at Masaka, Nasarawa State, plots of land at Dutse Alhaji Abuja and 13 plots of land at Integrated City, Minna, Niger State.