Court orders forfeiture of $9.8m, £74, 000 ‘recovered’ from ex-NNPC GMD

Zainab Abubakar, a justice of the federal high court, Kano, has ordered the forfeiture of the sums of $9.8m and £74,000 allegedly recovered from Andrew Yakubu, former group managing director (GMD), of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). 

According to a statement issued by Wilson Uwujaren, spokesman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the order was sequel to an ex parte application the agency filed seeking an interim forfeiture of the monies to the government.

In her ruling,  Zainab held that “the sum of $9,772,000 and £74,000 which are now in the custody of the applicant (EFCC) are in the interim forfeited to the federal government of Nigeria”.

Last Friday, the anti-graft agency said its operatives raided a building belonging to the former NNPC boss and recovered stacks of dollars and pound sterling stashed away in a fire-proof safe.

Yakubu had earlier reported to the commission’s Kano zonal office where he allegedly admitted being the owner of both the house and the recovered monies.

He is still in the custody of the EFCC.