EFCC: Court mandates forfeiture of N827m from NDDC contractors

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday, August 3, secured the final forfeiture of N827, 679,098.32 from Flank Power Resources Limited, and GMFD Ventures Limited; both linked to contractors with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

This was contained in a statement issued by the EFCC Head, Media, and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, in Abuja; who said Matthew Edevbie is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Flank Power Resources Limited.

“The forfeiture followed the order of Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, sequel to an affidavit deposed to by an EFCC investigator, in which the commission prayed the court for the forfeiture of the sum to the federal government of Nigeria, being proceeds of unlawful activity, traced to some contractors’ accounts with Zenith Bank,” Oyewale said.

Giving a breakdown of the recovery the spokesperson said, “A breakdown of the recovery shows that N616, 679, 098.32 was recovered from Flank Power Resources Limited, while N211 million was recovered from GMFD Ventures Limited.”

According to the spokesperson, “It was discovered that between 2018 and 2019, Flank Power Resources Limited received the funds from the NDDC through its account number:1015642852, while GMFD received through account number: 1014657819 both of which are domiciled in Zenith Bank Plc for desilting contracts which aside from being inflated were not executed.

“The sum of N616, 679, 098.32 recovered from Flank Power Resources Limited was facilitated through 62 Zenith Bank drafts in favour of the EFCC Recovered Funds Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, while the N211 million from GMFD came through 22 Zenith Bank drafts in favour of the same account.”

Oyewale further stated that “the EFCC secured the interim forfeiture of the money on June 8, 2020, and its final forfeiture was granted by the court on June 29, 2020.”