The Ministry of Justice on Thursday said it had generated N1.82 billion from the sale of forfeited property under its local asset recovery and management effort between 2015 and 2022.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), disclosed this in Abuja at the 18th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) administration’s scorecard series.
Malami also said in compliance with presidential mandates and foreign judicial processes, his ministry had recovered total sums of £6.32 million; €5.49 million and $390 million from various jurisdictions.
He said some of the recovered funds were being utilised in the financing of critical infrastructures including the Abuja-Kano Expressway, Second Niger Bridge, and Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
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He said the administration’s anti-corruption effort had led to the enactment of the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act; Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2017; Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit Act, 2018; Mutual Legal Assistance Act, 2018; Company and Allied Matters Act incorporating Beneficial Ownership, 2020; Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022 and Witness Protection and Management Act, 2022.
On criminal prosecutions, the minister said a total of 3,000 terrorism cases have been profiled to date out of which over 1500 cases were prosecuted, with 397 convictions realized.
He added that 7000 cases involving various offences including maritime, armed robbery, vandalization of electrical equipment and pipelines, financial matters, cybercrime, kidnapping and anti-corruption have been successfully prosecuted.
Malami said a total of 648 cases instituted against the president, federal government and its agencies, before states, federal and ECOWAS courts were served on the ministry.
He said diligent defences of these cases in the year 2022 alone saved the government from huge judgment debt liabilities to the tune of N142.4bn and US$507.4m.
He said these cases were handled by in-house State Counsel in the ministry; thus saving the country from further liabilities that would have accrued from payment of external solicitors’ fees.
He said the federal government had made progress in the actions being taken to challenge the arbitral award in the case of Process & Industrial Development (P&ID).
Malami disclosed that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) between 2015 and 2021 made a total of 68,540 arrests and seizures of various hard drugs amounting to 3,136,166.59kg.
“A total of 5,546.81 hectares of cannabis farm were also destroyed,” he added.
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