Money laundering: Court orders seizure of ex-AGoF, Nwabuoku’s assets

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, has ordered seizure of property and funds in several bank accounts that were linked to a former acting Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Anamekwe Nwabuoku, who was earlier convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Nwabuoku was found complicit in an N868.4 million fraud on March 23.

The court convicted him on a nine-count money laundering charge that was filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. 

Meanwhile, in the ruling, Justice James Omotosho granted an order for the convict’s property and funds to be forfeited to the government.

Funds in the different accounts contained in Schedule 1 of documents the anti-graft agency attached to the forfeiture application, include N12,526,206.55 in Temeeo Synergy Concept Limited’s Zenith Bank account number: 1016901286; N4,102,570.25 in Turge Global Investment Limited’s Zenith Bank account; 1016901279 and N682,904.36 in Laptev Bridge Limited’s Zenith Bank account: 1016727695.

Others are: N51,279,067.53 in Arafura Transnational Afro Ltd’s Zenith Bank account number: 10167277640 and N220million in EFCC Recovery Account domiciled with Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, which was allegedly refunded by Nnabuoku.

Likewise, in the Schedule 2, the property forfeited included a five bedroom (stand alone) duplex at 20, City Gate Estate, Kukwaba, Abuja, valued at N64 million, with an additional N3 million paid as infrastructural development levy on the property.

The EFCC told the court that the convict had voluntarily submitted the house key to it while pushing for a plea bargain. 

Schedule 3 on the application contained the convicted former AGoF’s investment in stocks. 

The stocks, domiciled in different banks and companies, included 10,000,000 stocks with Access Holdings; 7,521,860 stocks with FirstBank of Nigeria Holdings Plc; 4,500,000 stocks with Guaranty Trust Holding Company and 10,045,035 stocks with UBA Plc.

They also include 5,000,000 stocks with Zenith Bank Plc; 279,620 stocks with Berger Paint Nigeria Plc; 140,183 stocks with Cadbury Plc; 1,000,000 stocks with Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc and 500,000 stocks with Nascon Allied Industries Plc.

The schedule equally contained 551,039 stocks with Dangote Cement Plc; 500,754 stocks with Africa Prudential Registrar Plc; 410,603 stocks with United Capital Plc and 395,000 stocks with Dunlop.

According to the EFCC, the total current market value of Nwabuoku’s stock as at March 29, was N1. 941Billion.

Justice Omotosho held that the forfeiture application was meritorious, adding that the Supreme Court had, in a plethora of cases, held that “in crimes such as money laundering, forfeiting the proceeds of crime is deemed to be a natural consequence of conviction.”

“The essence of this is to ensure that the convict derives no further benefits from such property," he said.

“The convict here will not be allowed to enjoy those properties which are being sought to be forfeited.

“He has been convicted, and those properties have been established to derive from the proceeds of illegal activities,” the judge added.