SAN FRANCISCO, February 14, (THEWILL) – A Federal High Court, sitting in Kano, presided over by Justice Zainab B. Abubakar has ordered former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu, to forfeit the sum of $9,772,00 and £74,000 found in his secret safe in Sabon Tasha, in Kaduna town, to the Federal Government.
The order was sequel to an ex-parte application, moved by Salihu Sani, counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seeking an interim forfeiture of the recovered money to the Federal Government.
In her ruling, Justice Zainab held “That the sum of $9,772,000 (Nine Million, Seven Hundred and Seventy Two Thousand United States Dollars) and £74,000 (Seventy Four Thousand Pound Sterling) which are now in the custody of the applicant (EFCC) are in the interim forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria”
THEWILL recalls that on 3 February, operatives of the Commission had stormed a building in Sabon Tasha Kaduna City, belonging to the former NNPC boss and recovered the staggering stashed in a huge fire proof safe.
Yakubu later reported to the Commission’s Kano Zonal Office on February 8 where he admitted being the owner of both the house and the money recovered.
Yakubu who was the GMD of NNPC between 2012 and 2014 is still in custody assisting the investigation.
