Federal High Court in Lagos state has ordered the final forfeiture of the sum of N827.6m recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from two firms linked to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The two companies – GMFD Ventures Limited and Flank Power Resources Limited – are linked to contractors with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The Head, Media and Publicity, EFCC, Dele Oyewale, said in a statement on Monday, titled, ‘EFCC secures final forfeiture of N827.6m from NDDC contractors’, that the forfeiture order was made by Justice C. J. Aneke on June 29, 2020.
EFCC told the court the firms were awarded contracts and paid by the NDDC, but failed to execute the projects, while the funds were diverted and laundered.
The anti-graft agency added that its investigation revealed that the costs of the projects were also inflated.
The statement said the judge had earlier made an order for interim forfeiture of the funds on June 8, 2020.
A breakdown of the recovery shows that N616, 679, 098.32 was recovered from Flank Power Resources Limited, while N211million was recovered from GMFD Ventures Limited.
The statement partly reads:
Matthew Edevbie is the Chief Executive Officer of Flank Power Resources Limited. It was discovered that Flank Power Resources Limited and GMFD received the funds from the NDDC in between 2018 and 2019 for de-silting contracts, which aside being inflated, were not executed, but diverted and laundered.
It added;
The sum of N616,679,098.32 recovered from Flank Power Resources Limited was facilitated through 62 bank drafts in favour of the EFCC Recovered Funds Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria, while the N211m from the GMFD came through 22 bank drafts in favour of the same account.
The National Assembly is currently probing Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) over alleged mismanagement of N81billion.
President Muhammadu Buhari had order a forensic audit of the commission’s activities from 2001 to 2019. The audit has since revealed the financial recklessness of the IMC.
