The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has seized two choice shopping malls allegedly acquired by a serving Resident Electoral Commissioner, Gesil Khan, with her share of the N23.29bn bribe disbursed by former Minister of Petroleum resources, DIezani Alison-Madueke in the 2015 elections.
A sum of N49 million found in the bank account of the REC, Gesil Khan, has also been frozen by the EFCC.
The EFCC is yet to conclude its investigation of the INEC staff and PDP stalwarts who were implicated in the poll bribery scandal.
A source familiar with the case said: “We have been able to trace two choice shopping malls in Yenagoa to the affected REC Khan. Following the development, we applied to a Federal High Court for Interim Forfeiture Order in line with sections 26 and 29 of the EFCC Act.
“The court has granted our prayers to seize the two malls and appoint managers to take care of the properties in order to generate more revenue either for the government or the owner depending on how the trial ends.
“We do not want the assets to lie fallow hence we recruited managers to be in charge until investigation and trial are concluded.
“During investigation, we discovered N49million in the account of REC Khan. Since she could not fully account for the sources of the money, we have frozen the account in line with our mandate.
“We are treating the money as likely proceeds of bribery or money laundering. The account will remain frozen until a court of law decides otherwise based on facts we will present during her trial.”
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