The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of 48 properties linked to former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to the Federal Government in connection with an alleged money laundering case. The ruling followed an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which argued that the assets were acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik held that Malami failed to rebut the reasonable suspicion that the properties were acquired through unlawful means. The court dismissed arguments that some of the assets belonged to the wider Malami family in Kebbi State, stressing that the central issue was not ownership but whether the funds used to acquire the properties were legitimate.
The court further held that Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act empowers it to order the permanent forfeiture of assets found to be proceeds of crime. The final order followed an earlier interim forfeiture granted after the EFCC applied to preserve the properties pending the conclusion of the forfeiture proceedings.
Malami, who served as Attorney-General from 2015 to 2023, is currently facing a 16-count charge alongside his son, Abdulaziz Malami, and one of his wives, Hajia Bashir Asabe, over alleged money laundering involving about ₦9 billion. The defendants have denied the allegations, and the criminal trial remains pending before the court.
The forfeiture order relates to the civil asset recovery proceedings and does not, by itself, determine the defendants’ criminal liability. The criminal charges remain before the court, where Malami and his co-defendants are entitled to contest the allegations in accordance with due process.
