Operatives of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission have visited two mansions in Dubai allegedly
belonging to a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani
Alison-Madueke...
The properties, located at E146 Emirates Hill and J5 Emirates Hill, are said to be worth 74,000,000 dirham (N7.1bn).
Emirates Hill, which has been described
as the Beverly Hills of the United Arab Emirates, is home to some of the
richest men in the world including billionaire Chairman of the Stallion
Group, Sunil Vaswani.
Others, who are Diezani’s neighbours,
include the immediate past Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif; a
former President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari; and Robert Mugabe
junior, the son of the President of Zimbabwe and one of Africa’s longest
serving leaders, President, Robert Mugabe.
A source within the EFCC told our
correspondent that the anti-graft agency was already applying for the
forfeiture of the properties through the Office of the Attorney General
of the Federation.
If the commission is able to clear all
legal hurdles and ensure the final forfeiture of the property, it would
bring the total amount of cash and assets finally recovered from Diezani
to $200m (N70bn).
A detective, who did not want his name
in print, said the anti-graft agency would exploit the Mutual Legal
Assistance Treaty the Federal Government had recently signed with the
government of the UAE.
The agreements, signed by President
Muhammadu Buhari, are Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal
Matters, Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Civil and Commercial
Matters, Agreement on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and an
Extradition Treaty.
The source stated, “We have informed the
UAE authorities that from our investigation, we believe Diezani bought
the properties with the proceeds of crime. The whole process is still
ongoing but with the MLAT, signed by President Buhari, it has made work a
lot easier for us.”
The detective explained that before the
Federal Government signed the treaty, the UAE law prevented foreign
officials from having access to properties in the country without the
express permission of its owner.
He added that with the new treaty, the
UAE authorities were more cooperative and would readily give information
of properties from their Land Registry System.
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Presidential
Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay(SAN), who hailed
Buhari for signing the treaty, told The PUNCH that some corrupt
senators, who also owned properties in Dubai, would be made to forfeit
them.
Sagay also disagreed with some legal
experts who said the Dubai treaty would need to be ratified by the
National Assembly before it could be activated.
He said, “The UAE MLAT is not a treaty as such but an agreement; so, it will be operated without their (senators) approval.
“So, let that start worrying them
(senators). He (President) will implement it directly. So, those of them
that have acquired properties in Dubai and other Middle-East countries
should kiss their properties good bye.”
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