Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and human right activist, Femi Falana, believes he is the one being indicted in the claim made by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, in the ongoing probe about Abdulrasheed Maina’s reinstatement.
The AGF had written in a letter to the Senate, urging them to probe the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), on the missing funds and properties recovered from pension thieves by Maina’s taskforce team:
“What happened to the monies recovered from the syndicate? What about 270 properties comprising of real estate and motor vehicles, one of which is a mansion worth N1bn situated at No. 42, Gana Street, Maitama, Abuja allegedly given to a senior lawyer meant to crave his ‘buy in’ in maximising media hype someday, distracting the attention of the public from the pension fraud?”
Mr Falana has now rebuked the Minister’s claim that he bought any property from the EFCC.
In a Statement on Saturday, Falana said
“Having regard to the facts and circumstances of this case, Maina’s allegation that the management of the EFCC sold the property at No 42, Gana Street, Maitama District, Abuja or any property to me is a figment of his fecund imagination for mischief.”
“The suit was instituted by AMCON due to the failure of the company to liquidate the loan. In granting the ex parte application filed by AMCON in the matter the court ordered an interim forfeiture of the assets of A Group Properties Limited including No 42, Gana Street, Maitama District, Abuja. The said order was granted on November 11, 2015.
“However, in a bid to pay the loan, A Group Properties Limited decided to sell some of the properties. The sale of the property in question to me was made subject to the setting aside of the order of interim forfeiture which had been obtained by AMCON.
Falana has challenged the Minister to substantiate his allegation that the EFCC sold the property to him, rather than engage in a cheap campaign of blackmail.
Maina had earlier stated that a prominent lawyer, based in Lagos, bought one of the properties that was seized by his team, but did not mention any name neither did the AGF also give any name.
