Digging deeper into its core function of preventing money laundering, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has identified real estate as an avenue for the diversion of stolen funds.
The anti-graft agency’s Chief Executive said yesterday that investigations have begun into the acquisition of estates across the country.
Ola Olukoyede said: “What we have been able to find out is that most of these estates are funded by civil servants who have stolen money.”
He spoke in Abuja at a “policy dialogue on critical issues affecting Nigeria’s real estate ecosystem”.
It was organised by an Abuja-based law firm, the Law Corridor.
Olukoyede said the commission had secured the forfeiture of 15 of such properties.
He said some of the civil servants abandon the properties when they no longer have access to illicit funds, with some buildings left uncompleted for as long as 20 years.
He called for the operationalisation of the Beneficial Ownership Register to provide information about those behind corporate entities and investments, particularly in real estate.
He said: “I have set up a team. We will start visiting all the housing estates, not just in Abuja, but across Nigeria. We want to know who owns what.
“It will shock you that some of these estates have been abandoned for between 10 and 20 years.
“They just take the construction to a certain level and abandon it, and nobody knows what is going on.
“What we have been able to find out is that most of these estates are funded by civil servants, who have stolen money.
“So, the moment they leave public service and the money is no longer coming, they abandon the estates.
“The developer will now begin to look for investors to support them in completing the projects.
“That is one of the things we have discovered in some of these abandoned estates, and we have taken steps to begin to move against some of those estates.
“In recent times, we have had cause to file for the forfeiture of about 15 of them. We have got orders of interim forfeiture,” the EFCC chairman said.
Olukoyede, along with Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Mazi Afam Osigwe (SAN) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) Director-General Dr. Adebowale Adedokun, called for reforms of land administration.
