The Abuja High Court has granted a request by the EFCC to confiscate properties belonging to the suspects in the pension scam
The Chief Judge of the High Court in Abuja, Justice Lawal Gumi has ordered the confiscation of 108 properties belonging to the six suspects accused of diverting billions of Police pension money into their pocket.
Gumi granted the order following an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to confiscate properties belonging to the suspects and to freeze their accounts. The court, in addition, empowered the Commission to confiscate the shares owned by the suspects.
In the application, the EFCC’s lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs said that the order would be signed today.
The EFCC had charged the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Niger Delta, Atiku Abubakar Kigo; his director, Esai Dangabar; Ahmed Inuwa Wada, John Yakuku Yusufu, Mrs. Veronica Ulonma Onyegbula and Habila Zira to court for allegedly diverting N32.8 billion from the Police pension funds.
The suspects were arraigned before Justice Abubakar Talba of the Abuja High Court on a 16-count charge of conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and diversion of public fund amounting to N32.8 billion. The alleged offences are contrary to sections 97, 315 Penal Code Act Laws of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria, 2007.
The breakdown of the charges show that the accused persons, between January 2009 and June 2011, being public officers in the service of the government of the federation, diverted the sum of N14,518,567,724, being part of Police pension from an account domiciled at First Bank Plc.
Between January and December 2009 in Abuja, the accused persons were also alleged to have breached public trust when they diverted N8,920,371,822 Police pension fund kept at First Bank Plc.
The charge sheet also indicated that between January 2010 and February 2011 also in Abuja, they diverted another sum of N4,739,894,896 Police fund, and another N858,301,006 was diverted from the same source between February and June 2011.
They were equally accused of stealing N656,559,289 in January 2011 and another N462,963,012 was allegedly diverted from the same source in March 2009.
However, all the accused persons pleaded not guilty to the 16 charges and were granted bail by the court on April 3 with the sum of N10m each and two sureties each in like sum, one of who must be a civil servant not below level 14.
