By Solomon Johnson
Former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking to set aside the interim forfeiture order granted to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on three of his properties.
The properties form part of 57 assets earlier ordered to be temporarily forfeited by the court on January 6, following an ex-parte application by the EFCC.
In a motion filed by his counsel, Malami is asking the court to discharge the order as it relates to the properties listed as numbers 9, 18 and 48, located in Kano and Abuja.
He argues that the assets were lawfully acquired and duly declared in his asset declaration forms submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau during his tenure in office.
Malami also contends that one of the properties is held in trust for his late father’s estate and alleges that the interim forfeiture order was obtained through suppression of material facts and misrepresentation.
The former Justice Minister further urged the court to restrain the EFCC from interfering with his ownership and possession of the affected properties.
The EFCC had earlier been directed to publish the interim forfeiture order to allow interested parties to show cause why the assets should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
The matter is expected to be reassigned for further proceedings.
