The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday approved an interim order forfeiting landed and building properties linked to two former Directors of Finance and Accounts at the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Suleiman Bulkwang and Abdullahi Sambo, over an alleged N1.4 billion fraudulent payment probe within the agency involving the two suspects.

Justice Obiora Egwatu granted the orders after the legal team of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), led by Ekene Iheanacho, SAN, applied through an ex parte motion for the interim forfeiture order to be granted.

“An interim order of this Honourable Court forfeiting to the Federal Government of Nigeria the properties described in the Schedule below which are reasonably suspected to be derived from proceeds of unlawful activities,” the motion partly reads.

The seven properties forfeited include a 1-hectare plot of land in Ungwan Rere, Lafia Government Area, Nasarawa State (linked to Sambo), and four units of two-bedroom flats in Kubwa, Abuja (linked to Suleiman Bulkwang).

According to EFCC court filings Sambo, in March 2023, allegedly pre-informed staff of the REA department that monies were going to be paid into their bank accounts, which they had to remit for a supposed “project supervision and monitoring.”

The Commission added that seven REA staff acknowledged the directive from Mr. Sambo for the disbursement upon receipt of the funds from the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) platform, in their extrajudicial statements.

Culled Guardian