Daily Independent (Lagos)
Joe Omokaro
1 December 2008
Lagos — It emerged at the weekend that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has begun an investigation into the landed property of its founding Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu.
The probe has reportedly taken the best investigative hounds in the EFCC to Europe, Asia, and the Americas, with the co-operation of other security agencies.
It was learnt that the locations of some of the property that attracted attention include Salford, Leeds (United Kingdom), San Bernadino, Seal Beach, Fresco (United States), as well as Palm Beach, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
There may be many more houses, a source in the EFCC said.
A document on the case of the property in Leeds covers seven pages, and shows searches conducted from several angles, such as the current occupiers/owners, family records, price, the neighbours, and records from the city's Land and Property Registry.
Some of the property may have been registered in the names of other persons, as public officers whom Ribadu himself investigated hardly ever registered property in their own names.
They prefer to use friends, spouses, family members or fake names for such registrations to hide their ownership.
However, the source assured that neither Ribadu nor any one else is being witch-hunted, and that the matter would be dropped it is found that he has not broken the law.
But another insight has also been gained into the controversy over Ribadu's handing over notes as he was leaving for the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS), Kuru in Jos.
The EFCC recently invited him to shed light on the number and nature of case files, funds, and details of the property of convicts sold under Ribadu's watch.
He riposted that his handing over notes to his former Deputy, Ibrahim Larmode, had explained everything, and that the man is the one to provide any further explanation required.
The EFCC insisted that only Ribadu himself could supply the information needed.
A copy of his handing over notes to Larmode dated January 18 did not really disclose much substance. It said:
.The Secretary to the EFCC has directives to adequately brief you regarding all administrative matters, external co-oporation, media and human resources matters. He will also brief you on all annual statutory renditions to the National Assembly which the Commission is by law answerable to.
.The Chief of Staff, Services has directives to adequately brief you regarding all matters in the office of the Executive Chairman.
.The Director of Organisation Services has directives to adequately brief you regarding all registry, logistics, ICT, the Commission's assets, and general services.
Ribadu wrote that the Directors of TRI, NFRIU, SCUML, and Head of Legal and Prosecution would brief Larmode on training, research and academic matters, compliance with anti-money laundry laws and the financing of terrorism, designated non-financial institutions and their compliance regime.
An EFCC official close to Ribadu explained that Ribadu deliberately made the handing over notes as scanty as possible to suggest that he would be away for a short while and would return to his post.
Ribadu said in the three paragraphs on the first page that "I was appointed Executive Chairman of the Commission in 2003 and re-appointed for a second term in April 2007.
"I have been nominated to attend a nine-month course at Kuru. I shall therefore be away from the Commission as substantive Executive Chairman from January 21, 2008.
"Mr. President has appointed you as acting Executive Chairman to act in my place during my absence."
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has also stated that Ribadu failed to declare his assets when he was EFCC Chairman.
In a reply to a letter from the EFCC dated October 21, which asked whether Ribadu, Jimmy Lawal, and Nasir El-Rufai declared their assets on assuming public offices, the CCB said: "From our records, there is no evidence to show that he (Ribadu) declared his assets during his tenure as EFCC Chairman."
It also confirmed that El-Rufai (former Federal Capital Territory Minister) declared his assets, and that Lawal was not required to do so because he did not hold a public office.
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