$24bn "Fraud": Ex-PPMC boss to lose 9 Dubai properties

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has begun moves to seize nine Dubai properties worth about N1.6bn, traced to a former Managing Director of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company, Mr. Haruna Momoh.

The properties are located in highbrow areas of Marina, Sheikh Zayed Road, Tecom, and Sports City, which are homes to some of the richest personalities in the world.

Already, the EFCC has obtained an interim forfeiture order from a Federal High Court in Lagos to seize Momoh’s properties.

The commission, it was learnt, had started talks with the United Arab Emirates with a view to seizing the properties believed to be worth between $450,000 and $700,000 each or about N1.6bn in total.

Momoh has also been linked to several illicit transactions allegedly perpetrated by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.

Both Momoh and Diezani are the subjects of an ongoing House of Representatives investigation wherein it was alleged that they gave dubious contracts to the tune of $24bn to some oil firms under the controversial crude oil swap arrangement.

A document obtained by Punch listed the properties as follows: Unit 1402 PS, 14th Floor, located at Metro Central, Tecom, near Internet City Metro Station, Dubai, UAE; Unit 712 ES, 7th Floor, located at First Central, off Sheikh Zayed, Tecom, Al Barsha 3 Dubai, UAE; and Unit 512, 5th Floor, located at First Group, Marina Hotels, Al Seba Street, Plot 394-426 Dubai AE-AJ, UAE.

Other properties traced to Momoh include Unit 503 1 Bedroom Heritage, 5th Floor, located at First Central, Dubai Media City, Tecom, off Sheikh Zayed Tecom, Al Barsha 3, Dubai, UAE; Unit 1910 ES Heritage, 19th Floor, located at First Central, Dubai Media City, Tecom, off Sheikh Zayed Tecom; Unit 2507 Dubai Sports City; Unit 314 Dubai Sports City; and Unit 1002, Tecom Barsha 125616.

A source at the EFCC said the commission would apply for the seizure through the Office of the AGF.

He said with the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, which was signed between Nigeria and the UAE, the process of forfeiture would not be cumbersome.

Spokesman for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed to our correspondent on Monday that Momoh was under investigation and had remained evasive.

“He is currently under investigation and he is at large,” Uwujaren said.

A source added, “The AGF is expected to write the UAE for the forfeiture of the properties after which they would be sold off and the proceeds returned to Nigeria.”

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