Court Grants Final Forfeiture Of NOK University, Hotel, Event Centre, Factory Owned By Former Accounts Director

<h4>Court Grants Final Forfeiture Of<br &sol;>&NewLine;NOK University<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a> <&sol;strong>reports that Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja&comma; on Friday&comma; June 7&comma; 202 ordered the final forfeiture of every asset of NOK University&comma; Gwasmyen Water Factory&comma; Gwasmyen Event Center and Gwasmyen International Hotel in Kaduna State&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This is contained in a statement signed by Dele Oyewale&comma; EFCC Head&comma; Media &amp&semi; Publicity of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission&comma; EFCC and made available to OpenLife&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the statement&comma; EFCC had&comma; through its counsel&comma; Ekele Iheanacho&comma; filed an order of final forfeiture of the said properties pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and Section 44&lpar;2&rpar; of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Iheanacho&comma; through diligent submission and evidence before the court&comma; established the facts that Anthony Hassan&comma; a former Director of Finance and Accounts&comma; DFA&comma; in the Federal Ministry of Health&comma; built NOK University using proceeds of unlawful activities traced to him&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Physical assets of the University forfeited include Senate building&comma; ICT building&comma; Faculty of Medicine building&comma; Science Deanery building&comma; two Academic buildings &comma; a Faculty Hall and other buildings&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Other properties also forfeited include Gwasmyen Water Factory&comma; Gwasmyen Event Center and Gwasmyen International Hotel in Kaduna State&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Commission&comma; had&comma; through its investigative Officer&comma; Adaora Asabe Oragudosi investigated some verified intelligence bordering on criminal conspiracy&comma; stealing&comma; abuse of office and money laundering against some staff of the Federal Ministry of Health where the properties ordered forfeited were traced to the defendant&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Delivering judgment on the matter on Friday&comma; Justice Abdulmalik held that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the Apex court has held that any person who lives above his means owes the society some explanations&period; The burden lies on the accused to justify properties acquired which are disproportionate to his known legitimate earnings&period; It is in law that forfeitures are hinged on preponderance of evidence”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Again&comma; I hold that the respondent has failed woefully in tilting the scale of evidence in his favor&period; It is a principle of law that oral evidence cannot contradict or supersede documentary evidence because documentary evidence speaks for itself”&comma; she said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The court had earlier granted an interim forfeiture of the assets on June 1&comma; 2022&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;25455" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-25455" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-25455" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;06&sol;IMG-20240608-WA0048-300x165&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Court grants " width&equals;"300" height&equals;"165" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-25455" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em><strong>NOK University<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;