The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has said the anti-graft agency has recovered cash and assets worth more than $500 million to the Federal Government in the past three years.

Olukoyede disclosed this on Wednesday while delivering a lecture at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom.

“Within three years of my assumption of office, we’ve been able to forfeit both cash and assets worth over half a billion dollars to the government,” he said.

The EFCC chairman explained that Nigeria’s legal framework empowers the commission to seek forfeiture of assets suspected to be proceeds of crime without waiting for a criminal conviction.

He said the framework was similar to provisions applicable in countries such as Australia and Canada.

“We have similar to what is obtainable in Australia and Canada that empowers us to apply the forfeiture to proceeds of what is suspected to be proceeds of crime,” Olukoyede said.

He explained that the process of securing civil forfeiture begins with an application to the High Court.

“You apply ex parte to the High Court upon a probable suspicion of the proceeds of crime,” he said.

Olukoyede cited the recent forfeiture of an aircraft allegedly linked to a member of a monitoring committee for a power project in Nigeria.

According to him, the individual allegedly received a $30 million bribe, leading to the forfeiture of the aircraft.

“This aircraft was forfeited by someone who was supposed to be a member of monetary committee of a power project in Nigeria. We discovered he collected a bribe of about $30 million in Nigeria,” he said.

“He forfeited that about three months ago and it has been added to the presidential air fleet at the moment.”

Olukoyede said the forfeiture was secured within two months of the commission’s application to the court.

He also disclosed that the EFCC had secured the forfeiture of a property containing about 753 housing units from a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“That property contains about 753 housing units we forfeited from an erstwhile governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. We have criminal charges against him [in] about three courts,” he said.

The EFCC chairman further cited an investigation involving Abubakar Malami, former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

Olukoyede said the investigation began last year following what he described as reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office and resulted in the tracing of 57 properties allegedly linked to the former attorney-general.

“Sometimes last year, I opened investigations upon reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office by the immediate past attorney-general of Nigeria,” he said.

“We discovered that within eight years of his being in office, we were able to trace about 57 such properties to him. We’ve been able to forfeit about 48.”

He also cited the forfeiture of a private university allegedly linked to a director in the Federal Ministry of Health, saying the official voluntarily surrendered the property following an EFCC investigation.

Olukoyede attributed the commission’s success in securing non-conviction-based forfeiture orders to three key factors: the ability of investigators to trace assets, cooperation from the judiciary and access to credible intelligence.

He said several EFCC investigators had received training at leading institutions around the world.

“We also have some of the best investigators around the world,” he said.

Olukoyede said an effective and proactive judiciary was necessary for non-conviction-based forfeiture to work, while identifying credible intelligence as another critical factor.

The EFCC chairman also called for stronger protection and incentives for whistleblowers, particularly those who provide information leading to the recovery of allegedly stolen Nigerian assets located outside the country.

“The citizens must be encouraged with your whistleblower protection,” he said.

“If any of you is privy to where Nigerian asset is stolen or taken to anywhere in the world, we have an incentive for you. Between 2.5 and 5 percent is going to go back to you upon recovery.”

Olukoyede said such information could attract significant financial rewards where whistleblower intelligence leads to successful recovery of assets.