Courts Order Forfeiture Of Properties Linked To Malami, Emefiele

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recorded major legal victories in its asset recovery drive after courts ordered the permanent forfeiture of properties linked to former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
In Abuja, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court ordered the final forfeiture of 48 properties linked to Malami, ruling that the EFCC had established the “reasonable suspicion” required under the law that the assets were acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities.
The judge held that Malami, members of his family and companies linked to the properties failed to rebut the commission’s allegations, stressing that the central issue before the court was not ownership of the assets but the legitimacy of the funds used to acquire them.
The forfeited properties are located across Abuja, Kano, Kebbi and Kaduna states. However, the court discharged the interim forfeiture order on some of the assets initially listed by the anti-graft agency.
The EFCC had instituted civil forfeiture proceedings in January, seeking the permanent forfeiture of 57 properties valued at about ₦212.8 billion. Following the publication of the interim forfeiture order, Malami, his wife, son and several companies challenged the action, insisting the assets were lawfully acquired and that the commission failed to establish any link between the properties and alleged criminal activities.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the permanent forfeiture of seven landed properties, over $2 million in cash and share certificates linked to former CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by a five-member panel led by Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, the apex court set aside an earlier Court of Appeal decision that had overturned the forfeiture order and restored the judgment of the Federal High Court in Lagos.
The Supreme Court held that the trial court rightly ordered the forfeiture after finding that the assets were reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities.
The forfeited assets include luxury properties in Lagos, an industrial complex under construction in Delta State, over $2.045 million in cash and share certificates belonging to Queensdorf Global Fund Limited.
The ruling marks another significant recovery linked to Emefiele, coming about 19 months after the Federal High Court ordered the forfeiture of a 753-unit housing estate in Abuja, which has since been handed over to the Federal Government for public use.
The forfeiture proceedings against both Malami and Emefiele were conducted under Nigeria’s civil asset recovery framework, which requires the EFCC to establish reasonable suspicion that assets are proceeds of unlawful activities without first securing a criminal conviction.
The latest rulings reinforce the anti-graft agency’s ongoing campaign to recover assets allegedly acquired through illicit means and return them to the Federal Government.