As part of the ongoing trial of those allegedly involved in N4.7billion pension scam, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has seized 45 houses and frozen 36 accountsOver three million shares in 29 companies traced to the five suspects have been taken over by the commission pending the conclusion of their trial. Also, assets of 41 companies allegedly used for the scam by the suspects will be forfeited. The five suspects are Dr. Sani Teidi Shuaibu, who is currently the Director of Finance in Petroleum Ministry, and Mrs. Phina Ukamaka Chidi, a serving director in the Federal Ministry of Transport. Others are Aliyu Bello; Emmanuel Olanipekun; and Abdul Mohammed. Both Shuaibu and Mrs. Chidi had previously served as Director and Deputy Director in the Pensions Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. But all the five suspects and 27 others are presently standing trial on a 134-count charge at a Federal High Court in Abuja . They have all pleaded not guilty to the 134 charges. Investigation by The Nation, however, showed that the Chairman of the EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri, decided to invoke the Asset Forfeiture Clause in the commission’s Act to prevent the assets from being disposed of before the end of the trial of the suspects. A document by the EFCC chairman indicated that the assets, said to be worth over N12billion, were "temporarily seized by the anti-graft agency in line with Section 28 of the EFCC Act. Waziri said: "It is an offence punishable under Section 34 of the EFCC Act 2004 with imprisonment for a term of five years without option of fine to sell, deal with or otherwise dispose of any property or asset without the authorisation of the commission." Some of the assets seized from the suspects are a state of art hotel, an estate of 10 bungalows in Abuja , another ultra-modern estate in Sokoto, and five filling stations. A top source in EFCC, who spoke in confidence, said: "We decided to seize the assets to prevent them from being tampered with. "We have secured necessary court backing for the forfeitures. If the court releases the suspects after their trial, we will release their assets to them. "If they are however convicted, we will sell the affected assets to recover the public funds they had diverted or mismanaged. The court will determine their fate." The Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Femi Babafemi, confirmed the invocation of the Asset Forfeiture Clause by the commission. Babafemi said: "We have seized those assets in the interim until after their trial. I won’t say more than that." Meanwhile, the EFCC and the Police have started probing death threats from one of the suspects on four star witnesses of the commission in their ongoing trial.The star witnesses are Stanley Iwu, Isa Abu, Mohammed Mohammed and Abdullahi Lawal. One of those involved in the scam had threatened to kill the four suspects if they do not disengage from further testifying in the case. The EFCC source said: "We have identified the suspect threatening our witnesses and we are beefing up security for them in collaboration with the police. "If necessary, we will ask the suspect in question to enter into a bond to guarantee the safety of lives and property of the four witnesses. "But the affected suspect may face a separate trial for death threats after the police have concluded investigation into the case." The pension scam was uncovered during the tenure of a former Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Steve Oronsaye. During the clean-up of the Pension Unit in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation by Oronsaye, the government had discovered that there were 106,000 on pension roll whereas the actual beneficiaries were about 60,000. The current Head of Service, Prof. Oladapo Afolabi, in January, told the EFCC chairman that the verification of pensioners had reduced monthly pension bill from N2.3billion to N1.2billion. He said: "We have secured about 50 per cent reduction in monthly pension bill. At the end of the second phase of the exercise, we may be able to save N600million monthly."
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