Report: $4.5m missing from confiscation of properties traced to Cecilia Ibru

Some properties traced to Cecilia Ibru, former managing director/chief executive officer of Oceanic Bank, are reportedly entangled in controversy, years after they were confiscated.

In 2010, a federal high court in Lagos convicted Ibru of money laundering and sentenced her to 18 months imprisonment.

She was ordered to forfeit to the federal government N191 billion worth of assets located in Nigeria, US, and Dubai.

But seven years after the properties were forfeited, the proceeds from some of them are reportedly yet to be fully accounted for.

A fact sheet from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission( EFCC) shows that of the over $7 million recovered from the sale of 61 of such properties in Dubai, only $3.2 million is said to have been received by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria( AMCON).

“A registered Nigerian company with one banker as alter ego, was engaged by AMCON in June 2011 to provide legal services for the sale of the assets,” said the fact sheet obtained by The Nation.

“A UK-based lawyer was given the power of attorney which was notarised in Dubai.

“Findings indicated that the attorney engaged allegedly received over $7million but about $4,522,413.20 remained unaccounted for. The EFCC detectives discovered that AMCON only received $3,278,238.69 from the proceeds of the sale of the assets.”

The anti-graft agency was also quoted to have said investigation showed some of the proceeds of the sales were wired from Dubai into the accounts of “some individuals and companies”.

“The EFCC team has interacted with four officials of AMCON including a former staff, the ex-head of the transactions, who is now with a bank.

“More officials of some banks have been invited to come and give us information on third party accounts where the proceeds were deposited.”