The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday explained why it withheld suspected stashed riches found from the residence of Mr. Andrew Yakubu, a former Group Managing Director, GMD, of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
Between 2012 to 2014, Yakubu was the NNPC’s General Manager.
The EFCC, through its counsel, Mr. Faruk Abdullah, informed the Federal High Court in Abuja that it has petitioned the Court of Appeal to overturn a decision that dismissed a money laundering case it filed against the former NNPC CEO.
According to the commission, it would be incorrect to restore the confiscated funds to Yakubu because they are still the subject of an ongoing case before the appellate court.
Consequently, it prayed the high court to dismiss an application the erstwhile NNPC GMD filed to compel it to return the funds to him.
It will be recalled that the anti-graft agency had on the strength of a tip-off by a whistleblower, raided Yakubu’s guest house situated at Sabon Tasha, Kaduna State in 2017 and discovered the sum of $9.7million and £74,000 which he hid in a fireproof safe inside the house.
Subsequently, the Federal High Court in Kano, on February 13, 2017, granted an interim order for the recovered monies to be forfeited to the federal government.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna, in 2018, upheld the forfeiture order.
However, following his arraignment on money laundering charge, Yakubu, told the trial court that the seized monies were part of gifts he received on various occasions.
He told the court that people gave him monetary gifts on occasions such as birthdays, thanksgiving services, and other celebrations he hosted after he left service.