Justice Dehinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court sitting ,Lagos, on Tuesday ordered the final forfeiture of several units of shares valued at N246,305,544 linked to a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Army Properties Limited, Maj-Gen. U.M. Mohammed(rtd.) to the federal government.
The judge gave the order, following a motion on notice filed by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) through its lawyer, H.U. Kofarnaisa.
Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke had earlier ordered the interim forfeiture of the shares and publication of same in a national newspaper for any interested parties to show cause why the properties should not be finally forfeited to the Federal Government.
Moving the application for the final forfeiture, Kofarnaisa told the court that the application was supported by an affidavit deposed to by Nwike Fortune, an investigating officer of the EFCC.
In the affidavit, Nwike stated that he had investigated a petition from the NAPL “regarding monumental fraud perpetrated by Gen. U.M. Mohammed (Rtd), Mr. Yusuf Abdullahi Abubakar, and Mr. Kayode Filani”, adding that “Investigation revealed that Mohammed, while serving as NAPL’s Managing Director between 2015 and 2020, fraudulently sold company properties and diverted the proceeds for personal use.
“In a bid to conceal proceeds of unlawful activities, he acquired shares in Awhua Resources Limited using misappropriated funds.
“Some of the shares include: National Aviation Handling Company (N115,567,906); Oando Plc ( N2,000,000); Dangote Sugar Refinery ( N1,000,000); Vitafoam Nigeria Plc (N81,901,651) and University Press (N40,155,291).”
Kofarnaisa, thereafter, submitted that “It is in the interest of justice to finally forfeit the said shares contained in Schedules A, B, and C of this application, as they were acquired with funds that are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.”
Justice Dipeolu, in his ruling, held that the argument had merit and ordered the final forfeiture of the shares to the Federal Government of Nigeria.