Court approves final forfeiture of 48 assets tied to Malami

The Federal High Court, which sits in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, has ordered the forfeiture of 48 properties said to belong to former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami.

This was contained in a judgment delivered on Wednesday, where Justice Joyce Abdulmalik found that the EFCC had succeeded in proving that the properties in question are proceeds of unlawful activities.

Abdulmalik found that the former AGF was unable to establish that he had acquired the properties through lawful means.

Before the delivery of the judgment, the judge struck out several notices of applications and motions filed by Malami, his family members, and some companies associated with the properties.

The judge ruled that the issue before the court is not about ownership of the properties in question but on “how legitimate are the funds used to require the properties”.

Abdulmalik said the respondents have not been able to disprove the reasonable suspicion that the properties were acquired illegitimately.

She dismissed the interim forfeiture order issued in respect to nine other properties sought to be forfeited by the anti-graft agency.

The judge ruled that the EFCC was unable to prove that the nine properties located in Kebbi and Kaduna state were obtained through unlawful activities.

In January, the court ordered the interim forfeiture of 57 properties suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities allegedly linked to Malami and two of his sons, Abdulaziz Malami and Abiru Rahman Malami.

According to the EFCC, the properties are valued at N213,234,120,000.

Emeka Nwite, the presiding judge, held that the properties were reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities and should be temporarily forfeited to the federal government.

The forfeited properties — hotels, residential buildings, lands, schools, and a printing press — are scattered across Kebbi, Kano and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)

Following the interim forfeiture order, Malami accused the EFCC of inflating the value of his assets to mislead the court.

The former AGF said the anti-graft agency relied on “manifest exaggeration” and “malicious inflation” of property values.

The anti-graft agency is prosecuting Malami, his son, and wife on a 16-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of N8,713, 923, 759.49.