N134.3bn, $121m recovered by EFCC in 10 months – Chairman

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has recovered N134.3 billion and 121 million dollars, among others, from proceeds of crime between January and October 2022.

The EFCC Chairman, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja, while featuring in the 62nd session of State House briefing organised by the Presidential Communication Team.

Bawa said that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed that the recovered funds be deployed to critical projects across the country.

He said: “Moving forward to statistics of what we have been able to do particularly from January to date.

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“In terms of monetary recovery for the year under review, from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31st, we have recovered N134.3 billion; we have equally recovered 121 million dollars, pounds, euros, and Japanese Yen, among others.

“For the non-cash assets, there are some of the recoveries we have made – 52 automobiles, electronics, motorcycles, clothing, real estate.

“These are forfeited assets not cases that are under watch or investigation; and these are figures that are more or less direct recoveries from Jan. to Oct., 2022.”

Bawa said that in November, the commission recorded some achievements in terms of indirect recoveries.

He said that the EFCC had made recoveries for Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

“In November 2022, we recovered 354 million dollars for Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) in terms of royalty that one of the oil companies has not paid; our investigation led to that recovery.

“For the recoveries we are making for the Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC) for instance, between now and probably next week, we are going to transfer to them about N30 billion (about 30 million dollars).

“These are recoveries we have made for refusing to pay the three per cent statutory payment to NDDC.

“And we have recovered billions of Naira from fraudulent contractual engagements that the NDDC has done over the years.

“You remember the forensic audit, the EFCC was given the mandate to carry out criminal investigation in that regard.’’

The EFCC boss said that the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) mandated that all relevant agencies must open an account in Naira and foreign currencies.

He said that the Act further provided that all finally forfeited funds that belonged to the Federal Government should go into that account.

Bawa said that prior to POCA, such funds were paid into a designated federal government account.

“And we have to carry out an audit from our EFCC recovery account; and we paid into that account N120 billion and N29 million dollars, about 6.6 million Euros as well as about I.1 million pounds.

“The president has sanctioned that those monies should be utilised for the provision of critical infrastructure in this country.

“So, the funds are going to be used for the completion of the Abuja-Kano expressway, as well as the second Niger Bridge and the Lagos-Ibadan expressway,’’ he said. (NAN)