₦airaland Forum

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recovered billions of naira worth of assets from two brothers, Olisaebuka Eze and Onyeka Nnadozie Eze, following a court order.

The assets, including 20 properties, 10 vehicles, and three luxury wristwatches, were forfeited to the federal government, according to an EFCC statement on Monday.

The brothers were accused of stealing billions of naira and millions of dollars from a petitioner, Arthur Eze, through fraudulent means.

The EFCC‘s investigation revealed that the brothers used the stolen funds to acquire the properties and assets, which have now been recovered.

In a final forfeiture ruling by a three-man panel of justices, the Appeal Court in Abuja dismissed the appeal filed by the brothers and affirmed the final forfeiture of the properties, vehicles, and other items to Arthur Eze, the nominal petitioner, as presented by the Commission’s counsel, Ibrahim Buba.

The properties, all located in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, were held by the court to have been acquired with proceeds of crimes committed against Arthur Eze.

The properties and items, which Justice Modupe Osho-Adebiyi of the FCT High Court, sitting in Gudu, Abuja, had in April 2022 ordered their final forfeiture to the petitioner, include:

– A seven-bedroom duplex at Plot 1772 Cadastral Zone B06, Mabushi District, FCT, Abuja, located at No: 5 Ifeanyi Araraume Street, Mabushi, Abuja;

– Plot No. 621, Cadastral Zone B07 within Katampe District with file No. JG 10188;

– Nine units of two-bedroom flats located at Plot 375 off Ameyo Adadovah Way, Kado District, Abuja;

– A three-bedroom terrace duplex located at Brookhouse Residence, Karsana District, FCT, Abuja;

– Plot No. AHE540 in Lugbe AMAC Housing Estate measuring 1,500sqm;

– Plot No. 285, measuring 1,589.28sqm in Cadastral Zone E23, Kyami District, Abuja;

– Plot No. R9530AA, measuring 1,000sqm, located at Traders Layout 3, Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja (listed twice).

Other properties include:

– Plot No. XK1057, measuring 800sqm, located in Apo Layout, AMAC, FCT, Abuja;

– A plot of land with RofO with file No. AN 69550 dated 28/10/2012 at Kyami District, Abuja;

– Plot No. 0844 in NAF Valley Estate, Asokoro, Abuja, measuring about 1316.79sqm;

– Plot No. 188, Cadastral Zone E12 of Orozo, measuring 875sqm.

The items include:

– A red Oulm wristwatch, stainless steel back Japan Move 3377;

– A golden-colored Just Bling wristwatch JB-6116;

– A golden Piaget wristwatch with serial no. 8066-639333.

The vehicles are:

– A Toyota Camry 2014/2016 model;

– A Toyota Camry 2014 model;

– A Toyota Highlander;

– A Honda Accord 2013 model;

– A Mercedes Benz GLE 2015 model;

– A Toyota Tundra with chassis No. STFRYF17EX171601 and a car spare key;

– A Toyota Avalon with registration No. RSH111;

– A Honda Civic with registration No. YAB58EN;

– A Mercedes Benz C 400 with registration No. KWL43A5;

– A Kia SUV.

Dissatisfied with the High Court order, the brothers approached the appellate court in separate appeals, praying that the order be set aside.

However, in the Appeal Court judgment read by Justice H.A. Barka, the appellate court held that the duo did not satisfactorily prove that they legitimately acquired the properties and all the items involved.

According to Justice Barka, the appellants did not place any material before the court to enable it to disturb the findings of the lower court.

The court further held that the appeal lacked merit and dismissed it accordingly.

The road to the final forfeiture began in 2020 when the EFCC received a petition from Arthur Eze, alleging theft, criminal misappropriation, and money laundering against the first respondent, Olisaebuka Eze, who was the administrative officer of his company, Oranto Petroleum Ltd.

According to Arthur Eze, Olisaebuka Eze, in connivance with his brother Nnadozie Eze, stole money that ran into billions of naira and millions of dollars, which they used to acquire properties in Abuja and Enugu.

Upon conclusion of investigations, the Commission arrested Olisaebuka Eze and his brother, Nnadozie Eze, and froze their bank accounts following court orders.

In an attempt to challenge the actions taken against them, the respondents filed a suit at the FCT High Court, Apo, before Justice S.B. Belgore, seeking the enforcement of their fundamental rights.

At the end of the hearing, Justice Belgore held that the Commission had violated the fundamental rights of the respondents and awarded N10 million in damages in their favor. The Commission, through its counsel, Buba, challenged the ruling in the Court of Appeal, which overturned the decision of the lower court and held that the detention of the respondents by the Commission and the freezing of their accounts were for the purpose of investigation and were properly backed by court orders.

The appellate court further awarded N500,000 against the respondents in favor of the EFCC.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2024/06/efcc-recovers-billions-in-assets-for-oil-magnate-arthur-eze/

DCroc:
drop transcript if you can

0:00
the year was 1998 a lady had just booked a flight that would take her from Nigeria to
0:06
Saudi Arabia she had taken her time to prepare for this trip because a lot
0:12
depended on it this trip was coming days after the country lost its leader the
0:18
people were still mourning so it was then a surprise to see that the lady
0:23
embarking on this trip was the late president's wife this was where things
0:29
got into interesting while checking in at the airport the late president s bacha's
0:34
Widow had 38 pieces of luggage this raised a lot of questions but it was
0:40
when the police decided to search her bags to see what she was taking with her to Saudi Arabia that they uncovered the
0:47
most shocking thing in the history of corruption these 38 suitcases were
0:52
stuffed with loads of cash Miriam vacher was smuggling money out of the country
0:58
in suitcases this alarming Discovery soon caught the attention of the new military
1:04
government whose money was she running with how much money is she running away
1:09
with is she trying to secure the money stolen by the abacha government this series of questions must
1:16
have been welling up in the minds of the investigators as they launched what would be the most interesting hunt for
1:24
the infamous abacha loot I spent this past couple of weeks pouring over the
1:30
cut documents from all the trials that followed the investigations I wanted to
1:35
understand how he did it who helped him was there a Syndicate most importantly
1:42
what happened to the return font here with me and names bank records and other
1:48
documents that will help us answer these important questions I promise you it's not the usual aracha conspiracy so
1:56
buckle up because it's going to be a wild ride
2:12
General s Bacha was one of the most controversial leaders in Nigerian history after helping bring back the
2:19
military in the 1983 C that installed Mohammad barari as Nigeria's military
2:25
head of state he would again participate in another C 20 months later to remove
2:30
the same bhari for another General now Ibrahim banga but it was the 1993
2:37
political crisis that brocked Nigeria following the June 12 election that gave way to the catastrophic regime of s
2:45
abacha having seized power however abacha promised that there would be a transition to a civilian government
2:51
within a few years those few years before that transition would turn out to
2:57
be the most difficult for the Nigerian people any attempt to test our will will be
3:03
decisively dealt with from randomly jailing activists and critics to a
3:08
massive Crackdown on media and Civil Rights group abacha did every Unthinkable thing you can imagine his
3:15
most brutal moment saw him execute Niger data activist and playright Ken sarwa
3:21
this event had a disastrous effect on Nigeria as the International Community ostracized the country for human rights
3:28
violations but it wasn't all that gloomy while his human rights violation were well
3:34
documented abacha's Administration also oversaw an increase in the country's foreign exchange reserves from $494
3:42
million in 1993 to 9.6 billion by the middle of 1997 and reportedly reduced
3:50
the externed debt of Nigeria from 36 billion in 1993 to $27 billion by 1997
3:58
there are some in Nigeria today who still believe abacha to be a good economic manager his supporters claim he
4:05
stabilized the exchange rate at 22 Nar per dollar even though the unofficial rate was 80 Nair per dollar spoilers a
4:12
lot this policy benefited many of his chosen Associates who were buying
4:18
dollars at the official rate and selling it in the black market more on that later now after aacha dealt with the
4:25
political crisis of 1993 he placed his loyalist in key positions to ensure there was no real
4:32
threat to his power his heavy-handed approach to criticism also meant media
4:37
houses were not turning their search light on him and his family this was when the Looting
4:48
began in 2014 the US forfeited more than 48 million one of the largest
4:55
forfeitures in history these were proceeds of corruption hidden in bank accounts all around the world bank
5:02
accounts owned by former Nigeria dictator General s abacha and his co- conspirators one of the US assistant
5:09
attorney generals Leslie R Caldwell of the Justice Department's Criminal Division said quote rather than serve
5:17
his country General Bacher used his public office in Nigeria to loot millions of dollars the justice
5:24
department official revealed that the US government was forfeiting this 480
5:29
million in corruption proceeds to be used for the benefit of the Nigerian people but
5:36
why was this happening now how did this money even end up in these Western countries that usually whine about the
5:43
high levels of corruption in Africa the Judgment that ordered this huge forfeiture was the result of a civil
5:49
forfeiture complaint the Department of Justice filed in November 2013 against more than $625 million in the largest
5:57
kleptocracy for fure Action brought in the Department's history these are the court documents from that lawsuit it
6:04
read here in the United States district court for the District of Colombia United States of America asset for
6:10
feature money laundry section Criminal Division United States Department of Justice
6:17
yeah this includes approximately $33 million into bank accounts in the bwick
6:23
of Jersey $144 million in two bank accounts in France and three bank
6:29
accounts in the United Kingdom and island with at least $27 million the investigation conducted by
6:36
the FBI led to this damning document that was then tendered at the United States District Court of Colombia the
6:43
documents which I have right here with me implicated the late son of the Nigerian leader Ibrahim abacha his
6:51
second son Muhammad abacha his associate abaka tiu bodu former National Security
6:58
advisor is Mila guazo associate of the abacha family alhaji amadu da then
7:05
Minister of Finance Chief antthony Annie there is also lawyer and Associate of the abacha family David omaru these
7:13
people were accused of using funny offshore companies to divert billions of dollars of Nigerian State funds into
7:20
their private accounts the document highlighted how in one instance abacha
7:26
Muhammad bodu and others systematically embeded buled public funds worth
7:31
billions of dollars from the Central Bank of Nigeria on the pretense that the funds were meant to be used for National
7:39
Security the CBN not wanting to stand in the way of National Security dispersed
7:44
the funds after which abacha and bodu moved them overseas in all more than $2
7:51
billion was stolen from the Central Bank of Nigeria alone but how was abacha able to loot
7:58
this sort of money with no one finding out I mean the wife tried running with 38 boxes and she got
8:05
caught right so how did he do
8:10
it according to these detailed investigations abacha would direct his National Security advisor is Mila guazo
8:18
who doubled as his bagman to present him with false funding request for security operations or equipment which were
8:26
within his powers to authorize in one of the memor wrting to aater by guazo he
8:32
urgently demanded money from the Nigerian treasury to fight critics overseas in is what quote America has
8:39
gone bizer and seems to leave no stone unturned in ridiculing this nation in
8:45
the 1994 memo written by isazo he demanded that $30 million be
8:51
wired to a Geneva account abacha then signed off on the letters and forwarded
8:56
them to the CBN which was then forced to disburse the funds in all abacha
9:02
endorsed well over 64 security vote letters Each of which resulted in the
9:08
withdrawal of huge sums of money from the CBN at times the funds were directly
9:14
remitted in Travelers checks and to avoid delays cash was also given by the
9:19
Central Bank of Nigeria to ISM a guazo who then took the money to General s abacha's house at the house Mohammad
9:27
abacha the dictator son would wait to launder the money through Nigerian Banks
9:32
or by Nigerian or foreign businessmen to Offshore accounts belonging to Muhammad
9:38
abacha ABA abacha Abdul Kadir abacha and their associate Abu Baka ATU
9:46
bodu according to these investigations there were instances of about 36 transfers totaling 386 million us where
9:56
the monies were transferred directly from the central bank of Nigeria by wire transfers to bank accounts abroad held
10:04
by offshore companies belonging either to members of the abacha criminal organization or to Nigerian or foreign
10:11
businessmen who later remitted the same sums to members of this
10:18
organization on one particular interesting occasion abacha and one of his associates an made the government
10:25
purchase non-performing government debt from a company controlled by bodu and
10:30
Mohammad abacha at highly inflated prices they reportedly generate a profit
10:37
of over $282 million from this deal during his regime abacha exercised
10:44
full control over Government Contracting Award of oil and gas concessions and
10:50
other lucrative government Ventures this control was used by The Syndicate to
10:55
seek bribes from foreign companies in November 199 93 for example abacha
11:01
stopped payment on Nigerian government contracts with foreign companies including the dumes group a French civil
11:08
engineering firm although the dumes group would later restructure itself as a Nigerian based Company dumes nigeran
11:15
Limited it was unable to collect approximately $469 million in connection with this
11:23
contract investigations revealed that an attorney an associate of the abacha
11:28
family advised the owners of dumes that payments could be restarted if they
11:34
agreed to kick back 25% of those payments to their B of family dumes
11:40
agreed with this Arrangement the company would later enter into an agreement with Allied network limited a Nigerian
11:47
corporation that was created by the said associate of the aach family to receive Kickbacks on behalf of this
11:54
family by December of that year this abacha associate who who went by the name umaru opened an account in the name
12:02
of Allied network limited at Union Banker prev ubp in Geneva Switzerland
12:08
this account was used to Fel Kickback payments to the Bacha organization dumes opened an account at
12:15
ubp to receive the payments from the Nigerian government once they were restarted between August 16 1996 on May
12:24
22 1998 the CBN transferred money to the dumes account at ubp in
12:30
Geneva out of this amount $97 million or
12:35
25% of the set contract sum was then transferred by dumes to Allied network
12:42
limited for distribution to members of this abacha organization sometime in late 1997
12:49
Mohammad abacha received some payments from this same dumes this payment was
12:54
intended for Allied network limited
13:01
now as part of their looting mechanism aach bman is M Au guazu persuaded the
13:07
late dictator to allow him to flood the market with US dollars to maintain a stable exchange rate with permission
13:14
granted guazu bought $100 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria at the official rate of 22 naara per dollar and
13:22
sold at the market rate of 84 Nair per dollar keeping the profit but the
13:29
illegal activities didn't stop here on December 9th 1995 the Nigerian
13:35
president's wife Mariam abacha went on television to publicize the start of her
13:40
immunization program this was her moment to give back to the people as the mother
13:46
of the nation who cared for her children she was saddened by the fact that Nigeria was now isolated and children
13:54
were dying from curable diseases such as tuberculosis polio me
13:59
menitis and deia this harmonization program was a
14:04
way to give Nigerian children a Fighting Chance what Mrs abacha failed to mention
14:10
however was that her son Muhammad and his businessman sidekick abub Baka bhuru
14:17
were siphoning off $66 million from the $111 million purchase of vaccines from
14:24
the French FM pxo Marios according to this investigation
14:30
the money was stashed away in Western banks with the perfectly legal help of a
14:35
certain David Jones David Jones is a British
14:41
businessman whom Muhammad described as a family friend for 20 years Jones lived
14:48
in Hampshire and was a director of Smith and TS a company based in Bor Hill
14:53
Street South London guess what Muhammad abacha was a principal first shareholder
15:00
in this company in a document prepared by mohammad's lawyer Mr Jones is
15:05
described as general s bacher's manager in the records of the US City Bank where theacher Brothers had an account for
15:12
more than 10 years Mr Jones is shown to have the power of attorney over Muhammad's private account through which
15:19
tens of millions of dollars were moved in April 1996 City Bank records show a
15:26
transfer to Smith and tires of 300 $1,000 a further $500,000 went to Smith
15:32
and tires in 1999 from Harbor engineering another about company well back to our vacine story so it turns out
15:40
the vacine transactions did raise a few eyebrows among London Bankers in fact in
15:46
1995 Claudia nazelle of City Bank in Barkley Square emailed quote I just do
15:53
not feel right about this deal it has typical characteristics of a 41
15:59
fraud sound sound like wrong to you yeah there is a copy of the email her
16:06
colleague David heo said the client is a prominent and long-standing Nigerian
16:13
customer yeah this her colleague went further to say he felt they needed to be
16:18
specific and clear and diplomatic in the way the president J conin about potential money laundering
16:25
scams despite this legitimate concerns raised the deals went through the stolen funds
16:32
were mostly sent to accounts held in far away countries in Switzerland alone
16:38
abacha had over 140 accounts holding more than $750 million in 11 banks in
16:46
Lenin he had $100 million in three Banks lenberg $630 million UK $450 million in
16:55
20 accounts held in 11 Banks I know your wondering but who are the others that
17:01
made up The Syndicate it couldn't have been a Bater and his family alone yeah
17:07
the list is a long [Music]
17:12
one while going through Paper Trails left by The abacha Syndicate
17:17
investigators uncovered names of foreign Banks and bankers who help facilitate the hundreds of
17:23
transactions but who are these folks let's go to the associates we have
17:29
Gabriel katri a swis Israeli Banker Mr katri was a financial advisor to several
17:35
heads of state in the Middle East in Africa he was convicted in November 2009
17:41
for abetting what was described as a criminal Enterprise by ABA abacha Mr
17:47
katri was later fined $10 million and given a non- custodia sentence by the
17:52
Swiss investigating magistrate and then we have gibba chory Mr chory is is a
17:59
Nigerian born businessman of lebanes descent he's a founder of the chory
18:04
group whose multi-billion dollar assets span construction manufacturing real
18:10
estate and hotels according to court documents in the 1990s Mr Chri helped
18:15
set up accounts with SG re Bank in Geneva for their B of family enabling
18:21
them to benefit from illegal transfers of over $120 million from the Central
18:26
Bank of Nigeria and secured immunity from prosecution he was convicted in 2000 of
18:32
money laundry and aiding criminal organization he later paid $600,000 in
18:39
fines to the court in Geneva Switzerland and refunded $66 million to the Nigerian
18:44
government and then we have Abu Baka bodu according to court documents Mr
18:49
bodu was perhaps the most prolific bagman of The abacha Syndicate when
18:55
addressing the court one of the American investigators said quote abubakar atiu
19:00
bodu was an associate of general abacha and his sons who participated in the
19:06
conspiracy to steal and lunder hundreds of millions of dollars among other
19:11
things bodu played an instrumental role in setting up and executing the
19:16
complicated Financial transactions used to launder the proceeds of the conspiracy and of cour Mr Bodo was
19:24
involved with all the offshore front companies and bank accounts from from the British Virgin Islands to Ireland to
19:31
Switzerland Germany Singapore England Paris gwenzi and Jersey used to steal
19:38
and Loan the billions of dollars belonging to Nigeria under the aacha regime he acted as a director and in
19:45
some cases as a signatory or prime beneficiary well after the return of
19:51
democracy this same man has served as a senator and then governor of Nigeria's
19:56
Northwestern K State he currently serves as minister of budget and economic
20:02
planning well I hope the honorable Minister and DSs as well as the police
20:09
or whoever gets to see this video will know that I'm only narrating history to document things that did happen so that
20:17
future Generations will get to know what happened during the aacha regime everything I have shared about this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDBC_rSreRk&ab_channel=JudeBela

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says Nigeria has demonstrated a steady decline in the proportion of children facing severe food poverty, from 45 per cent in 2012 to 32 per cent in 2022.

The fund said this in a statement it issued on Friday in Abuja, adding that it is contained in the “Child Food Poverty: Nutrition Deprivation in Early Childhood Report” published on Friday.

The report also said that about 11 million children, or one in every three children under five years of age, in Nigeria are presently experiencing severe child food poverty.

It said the situation could make the children up to 50 per cent more likely to experience wasting, a life-threatening form of malnutrition.

“For the first time, the ‘Child Food Poverty: Nutrition Deprivation in Early Childhood Report’ analyses the impacts and causes of dietary deprivation among the world’s youngest and most vulnerable, that is, children under five years of age, in nearly 100 countries and across income groups.

“Globally, 181 million children under the age of five who consume, at most, two of eight defined food groups are considered to be in severe child food poverty and unable to sustain optimal growth and development in early childhood and beyond.

“Nigeria ranks among the 20 countries that account for almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of the 181 million children living in severe child food poverty,” the UN agency said.

The report also said that globally, four out of five children experiencing child food poverty are fed only breastmilk, milk, and/or a starchy staple, such as rice, maize, or wheat.

Also, less than 10 per cent of these children are fed fruits and vegetables, and even fewer, less than five per cent, are fed nutrient-dense foods such as eggs, fish, poultry, or meat.

The report, however, warns that while countries are still recovering from the socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of growing inequities, conflicts, and the climate crisis have pushed food prices and the cost of living to record-high levels.

“A recently published report by the government and partners titled ‘Cadre Harmonisé’ estimates that nearly 32 million people across 26 states of Nigeria are food insecure during this year’s lean season between June and August.

“Globally and in Nigeria, several factors are fueling the child food poverty crisis, including food systems that fail to provide children with nutritious, safe, and accessible options.

“Others are families’ inability to afford nutritious foods and parents’ inability to adopt and sustain positive child feeding practices.”

It added that cheap, nutrient-poor, and unhealthy ultra-processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages are aggressively marketed to parents and families and are the new normal for feeding children.

“These unhealthy foods and beverages are consumed by an alarming proportion of young children experiencing food poverty, displacing more nutritious and healthier foods from their daily diets.

“The report shows that in Nigeria, the number of children facing serious hunger is much higher in the poorest families (44 per cent) compared to the richest families (17 per cent).

“However, much more needs to be done to ensure that every child has access to and consumes a diverse diet,” the statement said.

To end child food poverty, UNICEF called on governments, development and humanitarian organisations, donors, civil society, and the food and beverage industry to urgently transform food systems.

It added that nutritious, diverse, and healthy foods were the most accessible, affordable, and desirable option for carers to feed young children.

“Leverage health systems to deliver essential nutrition services to prevent and treat malnutrition in early childhood, including support for community health and nutrition workers to counsel parents and families on child feeding and care practices.

“Activate social protection systems to address income poverty through social transfers (cash, food, and vouchers) in ways that are responsive to the food and nutrition needs of vulnerable children and their families,” it said.

(NAN)

https://gazettengr.com/one-in-three-children-in-nigeria-experiencing-severe-food-poverty-unicef/