A Federal Capital Territory High Court ordered the provisional forfeiture of money and property recovered from former Federation Accountant General Ahmed Idris by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Items include $899,900; N304, 490,160.95; and 15 properties in Kano and Abuja.
Idris and others are being prosecuted by the EFCC for 14 counts of theft and money laundering to the tune of N109bn.
A Wednesday statement from EFCC spokesman Wilson Uwujaren said Judge MA Hassan gave the order on Tuesday ruling on an ex parte motion marked M/1149/2022 and filed by the commission.
The commission had applied to the court for a provisional seizure/confiscation order of the properties in the annex to the complaint, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive case in charge No. FCT, HC/CR/299/2022, Federal Republic of Nigeria vs. Ahmed Idris et al.
In the affidavit in support of the application filed by an EFCC officer, Monyei Ekene, the commission had asked the court to grant, among other things, an order approving the “interim administration of the assets and property in the annex to this application to the applicant” pending determination of the substantive case.
The EFCC statement read: “Judge Hassan granted the motion as requested, but further ordered that the recovery account the applicant intended to open be in the name of the commission as a recovery account and the details of the account be reported. to the court within a week of the opening.”
Idris-linked properties listed on the forfeiture schedule include Kano City Mall/Al Ikhlas Shopping Mall in Mandwawarti, Kano; a single storey shopping complex in Ladanai, Kano; Corner shops in Ladanai, Kano; a duplex in 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 defendant, Mohammed Usman, which are located in the states of Abuja, Niger and Nasarawa, have also been seized in the meantime.
They include land with shops in the Chanchaga local government area in Niger state, 37 hectares of farmland with cattle located along Minna-Bida Road in Niger state, bungalow-style apartments in Gwarimpa, Abuja, buildings bungalow type in Masaka, Nasarawa State, land in Dutse Alhaji Abuja and 13 land in Integrated City, Minna, Niger State.