The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured a final forfeiture order against 48 properties linked to former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.

The order was granted on Wednesday by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja, who held that the anti-graft agency had established reasonable grounds to believe the properties were proceeds of unlawful activities.

According to the court, the respondents failed to provide sufficient evidence to show that the assets were acquired through legitimate sources of income.

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Delivering judgment, Justice Abdulmalik ruled that the case centred on the legitimacy of the funds used to acquire the properties rather than the question of ownership.

“The issue before the court is not who owns the properties, but how legitimate are the funds used to acquire the properties,” the judge held.

She further ruled that the respondents failed to dispel the reasonable suspicion that the assets were acquired through unlawful means.

Relying on the provisions of Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, the court granted the EFCC’s application for the permanent forfeiture of the 48 properties to the Federal Government.

However, the court declined the EFCC’s request to forfeit nine additional properties located in Kebbi and Kaduna states.

Justice Abdulmalik held that the commission failed to establish that those assets were proceeds of unlawful activities and consequently set aside the interim forfeiture order earlier granted against them.

During the proceedings, counsel to the EFCC, Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), urged the court to grant the commission’s application, arguing that the evidence before the court sufficiently established that the properties were unlawfully acquired.

Okutepa said the application, filed in February, was supported by a 47-paragraph affidavit and 46 documentary exhibits contained in three volumes.

According to him, the respondents failed to demonstrate that the assets were legitimately acquired and urged the court to permanently vest ownership of the properties in the Federal Government.

Counsel to Malami and the other respondents, Adedayo Adedeji (SAN), opposed the application and asked the court to dismiss it.

He informed the court that the respondents had filed a counter-application supported by a 109-paragraph affidavit personally deposed to by Malami, explaining the source of the funds used to acquire the properties.

Adedeji argued that the respondents had successfully shown that the assets were not proceeds of criminal activity and urged the court to vacate the interim forfeiture order.

He also accused the EFCC of relying largely on suspicion rather than concrete evidence linking the properties to any criminal conduct.

Despite the objections, the court found that the EFCC had met the legal threshold required for the final forfeiture of the 48 properties while dismissing the application in respect of the remaining nine assets.