The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday ordered the final forfeiture of about 48 properties linked to former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN.

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik granted the forfeiture application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), holding that Malami and others laying claim to the assets failed to prove that they lawfully acquired them.

The EFCC instituted the civil forfeiture proceedings in January, seeking the permanent forfeiture of 57 properties valued at N212.8 billion, which it alleged were proceeds of unlawful activities linked to former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.

The court has not ruled that the anti-graft agency had successfully established that the properties were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities and were not acquired with lawful sources of income.

Before delivering the substantive judgement, the judge dismissed several applications, motions on notice and objections filed by Malami, his family members and some companies claiming ownership of the properties.

The judge said they all lacked merit, stressing that the issue before the court was not “who owns the property, but how legitimate are the funds used to acquire the properties.”

According to the judge, the respondents had “not dislodged the reasonable suspicion that the property was acquired by unlawful activities.”

Judge Abdulmalik relied principally on Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act in granting the final forfeiture order.

However, she vacated the interim forfeiture order in respect of some of properties. EFCC had presented 57 properties linked to Malami for final forfeiture.

The final forfeiture does not amount to criminal conviction or guilt of anyone, as Malami, his wife and son are jointly facing charges some of which involve illegitimate acquisition of funds with suspicious origins.