By Udora Orizu
The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on Abandoned Properties, Thursday called for the immediate sales of seized properties by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).
The Chairman of the Ad hoc committee, Hon. Ademorin Kuye, made the call at the investigative hearing on sales of abandoned properties.
Kuye said the properties kept in EFCC custody would keep losing value and deteriorate, and such would not augur well for the country.
The lawmaker, who recalled that the federal government said that part of the 2021 budget would be financed from sales of properties, said that if the properties were kept without selling them, it would affect the budget.
Kuye however said the EFCC should ensure a diligent prosecution of any properties still undergoing prosecution by the anti-graft agency before offering them for sale.
Meanwhile, the Committee was dissatisfied with some of the documents brought by EFCC’s Acting Director of Asset Forfeiture and Recovery Management, Mr Aliyu Yusuf.
Yusuf pleaded that he should be given three weeks to come with other supporting documents, but his request was turned down by the committee.
In his ruling, the Committee Chairman, Kuye said the EFCC should come back in a week with other documents.
