The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said that it seized jewellery worth N14 billion and houses valued at $80 million from former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Allison-Madueke.
This is as the anti-graft agency said that Deizani’s jewellery is still in its custody, adding that it had not been auctioned but had been finally forfeited to the Federal Government.
This disclosure was made by the EFCC Chairman, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa, while appearing before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the assessment and status of recovered loot on Friday, in Abuja.
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What the EFCC Chairman is saying
Bawa said that the auctioning of some of the seized assets had been delayed by court processes, procedures and administrative exigencies.
The EFCC boss, however, said that the agency would henceforth deal with the seized assets case by case at the courts in order to quickly dispose of the assets.
Bawa in his statement said, “Already the Federal Government has set up a committee under the chairmanship of the Solicitor-General for the Federation and I think they are working tirelessly.” This, according to him is to ensure that assets that are not only recovered by the EFCC but the entirety of the recovery agencies assets are disposed of.
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“We have EFCC representatives from that committee and we believe at the end of the day Nigerians are going to appreciate what that committee will come out with in terms of the mandate given to them.”
On when the committee would wind up so the assets could be disposed of, Bawa said that he was not a member of the committee to know when their work will be concluded.
He pointed out that the agency has concluded plans to digitalize its processes as part of its quest to transform the agency.
He noted that the agency had also created and upgraded 4 additional departments to restore confidence. These departments include Intelligence, procurement, Internal Affairs and the Information & Communication Technology Department.
Bawa clarified that there was no loot that had been re-looted as being speculated, stressing that going forward, the EFCC would be different and Nigerians would be the better for it.