By Christiana Ekpa
The House of Representatives Adhoc Committee on Abandoned Properties yesterday tasked Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to commence immediate sales of seized properties by it agency.
This was just as the Committee want the Chairman of the EFFC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, to appear before its panel in person to explain why his agency left some of the abondand and seized properties in the hands of the Attorney General of the Federation’s office for sales.
The chairman of the Adhoc committee Ademorin Kuye, said this at the investigative hearing on sales of abandoned properties on Thursday in Abuja.
According to the Lawmaker, as long as the EFCC kept the properties in its custody they would keep losing value and deteriorating, adding that such would not augur well for the country.
He said that the Federal Government has said that part of the 2021 budget would be financed from sales of properties, adding that if these properties were kept without selling them, it would affect the budget.
The Federal Government had on Jan 15 said in addition to borrowing locally and internationally, it would sell some government-owned properties to fund the 2021 budget.
The arrangement was contained in the public budget presentation made by the Finance Minister, Mrs Zainab Ahmed
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
He queried the conditional right and purposw of transferring some assets to the the Attorney General of the Federation.
Kuye said that the AGF was also invited to appear before the committee but failed, adding that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had also been summoned to answer questions.
The committee was dissatisfied with some of the documents brought by Mr Aliyu Yusuf, EFCC Acting Director of Asset Forfeiture and Recovery Management.
Yusuf however pleaded that he should be given three weeks to come with other supporting documents but was turned down by the committee.
The committee however agreed that the EFCC should come back in a week with other documents to marshall his argument before it.
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