The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has rationalized its failure to divulge the identity of the owner of the Abuja 753-duplex estate.
The EFCC had on Monday announced that Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie in its favour by ordering the final forfeiture of an estate in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
However, the anti-graft agency was coy about the name of the owner of the 753 Units of duplexes and other apartments, a silence that drew them public opprobrium.
Pushing back at the criticism via a statement its spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, EFCC said, “The allegation of a cover-up of the identity of the promoters of the estate stands logic on the head in the sense that the proceedings for the forfeiture of the Estate were in line with Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, which is a civil proceeding that allows for action-in-rem rather than action-in-personam.
“The allegation of a cover-up of the identity of the promoters of the estate stands logic on the head in the sense that the proceedings for the forfeiture of the Estate were in line with Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, which is a civil proceeding that allows for action-in-rem rather than action-in-personam.
“The latter allows legal actions against a property and not an individual, especially in a situation of an unclaimed property. This Act allows you to take up a forfeiture proceeding against a chattel who is not a juristic person. This is exactly what the commission did in respect of the Estate. Individual in situations of unclaimed assets.”
He added that since investigation had not been concluded, releasing the suspects’identity would be the unprofessional.
“The substantive criminal investigation on the matter continues. It will be unprofessional of the EFCC to go to town by mentioning names of individuals whose identities were not directly linked to any title document of the properties,” Oyewale stated.
