These are not the best of times for former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Sen. Bala Mohammed as The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has seized four houses worth N872 million from him. Insiders at EFCC squealed to us that “We are probing the immediate past Minister of FCT on many allegations against him, including award of N1 billion fictitious contracts; abuse of office by allocating 12 choice plots to his son and 37 other commercial plots worth about N8 billion to Hammoud, who is suspected to be his front; land swap, among others.”
“Some of the petitions against Bala Mohammed had been pending since 2013. Initial findings showed that the ex-minister used fictitious companies to award contracts worth N1 billion in FCT. In one instance, a man with three companies was allowed to bid for one slot. About 16 companies used for fictitious contracts are under investigation because they did not supply items credited to them.
“We have also uncovered how Bala allocated plots of land to his friends, business partners. For examples, he allocated 12 plots of land to his son, Shamsudeen, and 37 commercial plots of land to his business front called Tariq Hammoud.”
“Some of those quizzed so far confessed that Bala used unconventional methods in raking illicit funds and laundering same. Each time the ex-minister allocated a plot of land, he would find out the market value and ask you to pay half of the amount to him in cash. For instance if a plot of land was N2 billion, Bala would ask for N1 billion cash from the prospective buyer. He was smart in collecting cash. But the EFCC has traced allocation of 37 commercial plots to Hammoud and how N8billion was made from it. In fact, we saw a proposal by Tariq Hammoud to sell some of the plots. So far, our operatives have arrested, detained and quizzed Shamsudeen. He is presently on administrative bail. We have also interrogated Hammoud.”
“What happened was that the former minister allocated some plots of land to Aso Savings and they bought the N650 million house for him at Nos. 1 and 3, Mariam Mukhtar Street, Asokoro District. The EFCC has confiscated three duplexes totalling N222million which were acquired by the ex-minister’s son. We invoked sections 28 and 34 of the EFCC (Establishment Act) 2004 and Section 13(1) of the Federal High Court Act, 2004 which empower the anti-graft agency to invoke Interim Assets Forfeiture Clause.”
“Section 28 of the EFCC Act reads: ‘Where a person is arrested for an offence under this Act, the Commission shall immediately trace and attach all the assets and properties of the person acquired as a result of such economic or financial crime and shall thereafter cause to be obtained an interim attachment order from the Court.’ On the fate of the ex-minister, the source said: “We are investigating him, we are yet to invite him for questioning. Certainly, we are closing in on him.”