Buildings, cars, etc, tagged exhibits, are routinely
seized from suspects by security agencies. But most of the times, the
exhibits, made up of choice cars and cash, disappear even before court
pronouncements on the accused, writes JULIANA FRANCIS
In 2008, a Port Harcourt-based businessman, Mr. Augustine Okpara, was
arrested by detectives attached to the Rivers State Police Command for
fraud. Okpara was investigated for fraud reported by the United Bank for
Africa (UBA).
Immediately he was arrested, his vehicles – two
Mitsubishi Pajero ‘Jeeps’ with registration numbers ET 210 ABJ and DQ
557 PHC, as well as a Mercedes CLK car marked HH 188 KJA – were
impounded by the police.
Police registered the cars as exhibits during the investigation and
period of trial. He was arraigned but eventually discharged and
acquitted of all the counts in April 2009. When the court acquitted
Okpara, the court instructed that his cars be returned to him. It was,
however, discovered that the cars had all been sold through auction by
the Rivers State Police Command in July 2009.
Okpara, who is now asking the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Idris
Ibrahim, to reopen the case in order to recover his vehicles or get
compensation, said he was shocked at the sheer lack of adherence to rule
of law by the police. Efforts to retrieve Okpara’s cars have been
abortive in the past seven years. Okpara has also reported the matter to
the Special Fraud Unit (SFU).
The case was investigated and the policemen who handled his
investigation in Rivers State were indicted. It was discovered that the
Rivers State Commissioner of Police, back then, allegedly sold one of
the ‘auctioned’ cars to himself and sold the remaining two to his
friends, even while the case was still pending in court.
“While I was in court, police sold my three cars, which they took
from me during the investigation. They, however, released my furniture
and electronics. I was acquitted, but I could not get my cars. I
petitioned the then IG, the matter was referred to SFU. The matter was
duly investigated and it was discovered that my cars had been sold. In
fact, a commissioner of police sold my cars,” Okpara said.
It was owing to cases like that of Okpara that Nigerians are asking
‘what become of exhibits recovered from suspected or confirmed criminals
by the police, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Security and
Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency
(NDLEA), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences
Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)?’
These law enforcement agencies are known for arresting suspects and
impounding their property.
But what happens after the exhibits have been seized? In the case of
the EFCC, the suspect’s account is frozen, cars and buildings impounded.
In 2004, allegations of corruption trailed former IG, Mr. Tafa Balogun.
He was alleged to have pocketed public money and taken bribes from
politicians and criminals.
These allegations led to his forced retirement in January 2005. On
April 4, 2005, Balogun was arraigned before the Federal High Court,
Abuja, for about N13 billion obtained through money laundering, theft
and other sources. The EFCC, under Nuhu Ribadu, brought 70 charges
against Balogun covering the period from 2002 to 2004. Balogun made a
plea bargain with the court in exchange for returning most of the
property and money.
Between 2008 and 2009, the Chairman of the House Committee on Police
Affairs, Abdul Ahmed Ningi, alleged that N16 billion of the money
recovered from Balogun had disappeared.
It was further alleged that some of the recovered money and property
could not be accounted for. The EFCC later stated that it did not have
records of the exact property recovered from Balogun. It was alleged
that some of the houses had been secretly sold to certain individuals at
give-away prices.
Till date, nobody could really say what has become of the loot
recovered from Balogun. Some of his houses, landed property and cars
were, however, alleged to have been auctioned. A close friend to
Balogun, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “The EFCC sold all Tafa’s
property. A top shot of the EFCC sold one of Tafa’s houses to his
father-in-law.”
In the NCS, contraband are seized almost on a daily basis at the
nation’s borders. It is, however, no longer news that most of these
seized products, unofficially and illegally end up in the homes of many
Customs officials. An America-based Nigerian, Mr. Zek Diran, said that
sometimes ago, his friend shipped an expensive car to Nigeria but it
disappeared within Nigeria Customs axis.
The ‘jeep’ was later traced to a customs officer. He had already
given the car to his mistress as a gift. “Go and check among uniform
personnel, who use the most expensive cars, it is usually Customs
officers.
They do not buy cars; they impound cars. They use some and give some
to their wives. “I was working with Customs one day, on a joint
operation at Seme border, when the Customs officers stopped a bus. They
impounded six bags of rice from a woman. Right there and then, the woman
ran into the highway, screaming and crying.
She collapsed and lost consciousness. She said she took the money
used in buying the rice as a loan from Lift Above Poverty Organisation
(LAPO) Bank. You can be sure that those six bags of rice will never get
to Customs Headquarters,” a Customs source said. Whenever Christmas
draws near, many Customs officials’ wives become rice, turkey and exotic
wine sellers.
Many items seized by Customs officials, especially along border
routes are not even made known to the top hierarchy of the NCS. A lady,
Anurika Onwuyiriuwa said: “My neighbour is a Customs official, stationed
at Seme border. I heard he is a junior officer, yet he and his wife
drive jeeps; how much is his salary? Most midnights, a commercial bus
would drive into our compound to offload bags of rice, cartons of wine
and turkeys.
The couple sells rice in bags in their apartment.” The NSDC and
Nigerian Navy have often been accused of impounding crude oil from
pipeline vandals, and either selling it secretly and pocketing the
money, or converting it to personal use. In the NDLEA, during the
administration of Alhaji Bappa Jama’are, seized drugs were said to have
disappeared from the exhibit room.
In January 1993, a senior officer of the agency was suspended for
allegedly masterminding the removal of 200 grammes of cocaine exhibits
expelled from the bowels of a detained suspected drug courier. In
February 1993, 40 tons of Indian hemp impounded earlier during a raid in
Ondo State disappeared into thin air.
The weed was valued at N1.5 million. In February 1994, eight out of
64 wraps of heroine recovered from Mr. Joe Akubueze, now a convict, were
reportedly stolen from the agency’s custody. In the police, once
someone is a suspect, his landed property, furniture, cars and even
money are impounded.
A police officer said that some of the recovered furniture and
television sets are often deployed for use by police formations. And
when it is time for suspects’ cars to be auctioned, the cars are sold to
serving policemen. A policeman said: “It is not part of police duty to
seize criminals’ landed property.
They can, however, seize cars and furniture. The seized items are
itemised and handed over to exhibit keeper, inside exhibit room. If the
suspect is found guilty in the court of law, the items are auctioned by
certified auctioneers, approved by Federal Government. It is illegal to
sell seized items, while the case is still in court.”
Between February and April 2015, Ekpo Bassey (39), Senator Nwobodo
Eze (55), Amira Abdallahi (32), Daniel Okpara (30), Paul Irior (37) and
Royal Nwabuike (32), were arrested by SARS operatives for using the EFCC
reflective vests to allegedly rob and dupe unsuspecting Nigerians.
Nwobodo, said to be the leader of the gang, allegedly has houses
spread across the nation, including a hostel in Ambrose Alli University,
Edo State. Allegedly recovered from them were a Bryco 59 pistol with
serial no. 930945, with six rounds of 5.56mm live ammunition,
singlebarrelled pistol cut-to-size with four live cartridges, and three
Toyota Highlander Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) with registration
numbers LSR 11 DB, LSR 671 DK and KTU 380 DK. The police also took a
Toyota Sienna 2012 model, marked JJJ 424 CQ, Toyota 4-Runner, marked KRD
449 DG, an unregistered Toyota Camry car while N4 million and $13 were
also recovered. This is just a single case and yet, several items and
money were recovered from them.
What has become of these exhibits? In June 2015 worried by growing
attacks on banks and determined to forestall such occurrences, the
former IG, Solomon Arase, and the then Lagos State Commissioner of
Police, Mr. Kayode Aderanti, handed over four machine guns to operatives
of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja. The machine guns are
from cache of sophisticated guns recovered from past robbery suspects.
They were exhibit guns. A senior police officer said that would be
first time that SARS detectives were given machines guns in the history
of the police. Arase and Aderanti arrived at this drastic decision after
robbers attacked four banks at Ogolonto area of Ikorodu, Lagos. Arase
and Aderanti’s decision was further hinged on the fact that most of the
SARS operatives sent to confront these bank robbers were armed with AK47
rifles, while the criminals were armed with hand grenades, explosives
and machine guns.
This highlights the fact that exhibits in police custody, are
clearly, not sacrosanct. In fact, police have been accused of collecting
Indian hemps or guns, seized from suspected criminals, kept in exhibit
room, to plant on anyone they allegedly want to implicate.
In different states in the South- East, criminals’ property are often
seized and demolished. One of the first states to make the law against
criminals’ loot and property was then Governor Peter Obi of Anambra
State. Obi presented a bill to the state House of Assembly, demanding
stiffer penalty against suspected ritual killers and kidnappers.
The bill was passed into law and stipulated that government had the
right to confiscate, destroy or turn property belonging to kidnappers
and their sponsors to some other use. This was in addition to blocking
their sources of income. In 2010, Obi demolished dozens of property
belonging to suspected kidnappers.
He brought down two buildings at Oraifite in Ekwusigo Local
Government Area where a cache of arms was uncovered by the police after
they arrested Olisa Ifedike.
Anambra’s anti-kidnapping law elicited some criticisms from a number
of observers. Many Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are insisting that
there was no law made by Anambra State government to check their
actions of demolishing suspects’ property. Interestingly, members of the
CSO said none of them had seen or been able to lay hands on the
supposed law.
The practice of destroying property of suspected kidnappers without
subjecting them to trial in the court of law has also been disparaged by
critics. One of the first casualties of the law against ritual killers
and suspected kidnappers in Anambra State was Chief Bonaventure Mokwe.
The destruction of Mokwe’s Upper Class Hotel also showed the weak
fabric of the law. Mokwe, a business magnate, was arrested in connection
with allegations of murder and ritual. Hours after Mokwe’s arrest, his
Upper Class Hotel on 8, Old Market Road, Onitsha, was levelled to the
ground. Mokwe was arrested by the police and later remanded in Onitsha
prisons.
He had since secured his bail and now demanding damages from
government for hurriedly pulling down his hotel without recourse to
proper police investigation. The Delta State government has had a
running battle with kidnappers.
The state has also witnessed many high profile kidnap cases. In
December 2012, the fifth Assembly of the Delta legislature passed into
law the state Anti-Kidnapping and Anti-Terrorism Bill.
The bill which, among other provisions, prescribes death penalty for
suspects found guilty of the offence of kidnapping also stipulates
destruction of property of kidnappers. In line with the law passed by
the assembly, the Delta State government embarked on the demolition of
property belonging to kidnappers. Eight buildings allegedly owned by
kidnappers were destroyed by the government in 2013.
Imo State has also been buffeted by cases of kidnapping. The
administration of Chief Ikedi Ohakim witnessed the passage of the bill
known as Hostage Taking/ Kidnapping Prohibition Bill. It stipulates
death sentence for kidnapping and hostage taking as well as the
destruction of property of convicted kidnappers and any other facility
used in facilitating and abetting kidnapping.
Since then, scores of buildings and other property belonging to
suspected kidnappers have been demolished by government over the last
two years. The Rochas Okorocha administration, for instance, also
demolished a number of buildings linked to kidnapping. The Head, Media
and Publicity of NDLEA, Mitchel Ofoyeju, explained the way suspects or
criminals’ loots are handled.
He said: “Section 28 of NDLEA Act states that for the avoidance of
doubt and without any further assurance than this Act, all the
properties of a person convicted of an offence under this Act and
already the subject of an interim order shall be forfeited to the
Federal Government.
“All drug exhibits are kept in the exhibit room. They are produced in
court during trial and when the case is concluded, we apply for a final
forfeiture order to publicly destroy the drug exhibits. If it is money,
it is paid into the Federal Government account. Bank accounts are
frozen and after a final forfeiture order is obtained from the court,
the said money is transferred into the Federal Government account.
“Where it is established that any convicted person has assets or
properties in a foreign country, Section 29 states that such assets or
properties, subject to any treaty or arrangement with such foreign
country, shall be forfeited to the Federal Government. The agency shall,
through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, ensure
that the forfeited assets or properties are effectively transferred and
vested in the Federal Government.
“However, houses, landed property and cars are sold after a court
order is obtained and the proceeds paid into the Federal government
Account. Prior to the sales of such buildings, they are sealed.
Where an arrested person is convicted of an offence under this Act,
the agency, or any authorised officer, shall apply to the Federal High
Court for a final order of confiscation and forfeiture of the convicted
person’s assets and properties already subject to an interim order under
this Act. “A copy of every final order forfeiting the assets and
property shall be forwarded to the agency.
Upon receipt of a final order pursuant to this section, the secretary
to the agency shall take steps to dispose of the property concerned by
sale or otherwise and where the property is sold, the proceeds thereof
shall be paid into the consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.”
Also, the EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, explained the role of the
body on exhibits.
He said: “Section 28 of the EFCC Act gives the commission power to
trace and attach all the assets and properties of persons alleged to
have committed an offence under the Act, through an interim order of
court. Section 26 (3) of the EFCC Act also states that, ‘properties
taken or detained under this section shall be deemed to be in the
custody of the commission, subject only to an order of a court.’”
Uwujaren said that Section 21 of the EFCC Act states that, “for the
avoidance of doubt and without any further assurance than this Act; all
the properties of a person convicted of an offence under this Act and
shown to be derived or acquired from such illegal act and already the
subject of an interim order shall be forfeited to the Federal
Government.”
According to him, these provisions clearly answer questions relating
to assets seizure and management by the EFCC. He added: “Goods seized by
the EFCC remain exhibit until the cases are determined and
pronouncement made by court on what should be done with the exhibits.
Exhibits are kept by the commission pending the determination of the
substantive case. Records of the exhibits are available at the
commission and can also be verified from the court. “Section 26 stated
above is clear about who keeps the exhibits. The seized cars, buildings
and money frozen in accounts through interim forfeiture are in the
commission’s custody until the cases are determined.
There is need to draw a line between assets under interim forfeiture
and those under final forfeiture. No one can touch any property under
interim forfeiture until the case is determined and a final forfeiture
order obtained from court.” An Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP),
who wished to remain anonymous, said: “Exhibits have different status.
If a case is under investigation, the exhibit will be preserved.
If case is in court, only the court can decide what becomes of it.
But if exhibit was abandoned, it is kept for six months, and then
published in print media, and then an order is sought from court to
dispose it in a public auction and by an approved government
auctioneer.” The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Don Awunah, said
exhibits were usually tendered in courts.
He said: “If the exhibits are proceeds of crime; when someone uses
firearm to kill someone during a crime, that firearm would be subjected
to ballistic examination, to know if that was the weapon used. When you
are giving evidence in court, the police will tender that gun as
exhibit; the weapon used in killing a victim.
“If a girl is raped and the pants is torn, it becomes an exhibit. If a
vehicle is seized from an armed robber and the person is arrested, the
vehicle would be tendered in court. The vehicle could, however, be
released to the person on bond. If the person is coming to court, he
would come with the vehicle. “If a robber used proceeds of crime to buy
property, such property is forfeited to the government.
The government will decide what to do with the property. If it is a
perishable property, an exhibit, it could get damaged, so we take
picture of it and auction to members of the public and money given to
government.” Reacting to allegations of SARS, Ikeja, using machine guns
recovered from suspected armed robbers, Awunah said: “No! It can never
be! I don’t know whether you are writing a story or setting a trap.”
When Awunah was intimated about Austine’s case, where his two jeeps
were auctioned to senior police officers, even while the case was
pending in court, he said: “I don’t think you are writing a story. You
are looking for something else. There is a timeline for seized vehicles.
I don’t know if you want to get knowledge or you are setting a trap.
If a vehicle is abandoned, it has timeline. If nobody comes to claim
it, it would be published in newspapers for people to see it; for the
owner to come and claim it. After six months, it would be auctioned.”
The FPRO, however, insisted that exhibits of case still in court could
not be auctioned.
He added: “I told you, you are setting a trap. You are asking a
leading question. I have been long on this job. I know where you are
heading. Once an exhibit is tendered in court, it becomes court’s
property; it is no longer in police custody. You people don’t under
these issues.
Once it is in court, the court can decide to dispose it. Most of the
cars you see at police stations have been abandoned; after sometime,
police would publish them. Police go to court to get court order. You
can’t auction without a court order. “When you go a suspect’s home with a
search warrant, you may collect items that are incriminating.
If the suspect proves ownership, it would be given back to him/ her.
If the furniture is bought with proceeds of crime, they would be
forfeited to government. It is the law of forfeiture. Such furniture
could be auctioned based on court order.” On his part, the Assistant
Public Relations Officer, a Deputy Superintendent of Customs, Federal
Operations Unit, Mr. Jerry Attah, denied allegations against Customs
leadership.
He said: “People are entitled to their opinion and can make frivolous
allegations. There is no way any Customs officer can seized a vehicle
and convert it to his personal use. Sometimes, the owner of these seized
vehicles would show up. All items seized are accounted for. For
example, poultry products are banned because they are not good for our
health.
“When smuggled vehicles are seized, at the discretion of the officer,
he can tell the person to go and pay duty. Before then, the vehicle
will be in detention. After the appropriate duty has been paid, it would
be released.” According to him, if vehicles are abandoned, they will be
kept for 30 days before being action could be taken.
He said: “On a weekly basis, we send incident report to headquarters
about all seizures. We compile lists of seizures quarterly and we send
them to court for condemnation.
At that point, it becomes the property of the Federal Government. It
becomes the right of the government to say how it should be disposed. It
is not the responsibility of Customs to dispose any condemned goods.
“Within the last three weeks, we have donated 21, 000 of seized 50kg
bags of rice to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Maiduguri and
Adamawa, based on presidential directives. There are guidelines for
disposals.”https://newtelegraphonline.com/how-security-chiefs-live-off-criminals-property/
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