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/