EFCC officials visit two mansions believed to belong to Diezani in Dubai with a view to seizing them

ECONOMIC and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) officials have visited two mansions in Dubai believed to belong to a former petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke with a view to asking the authorities there to seize them.

Since leaving office in 2015, Ms Alison-Madueke has been the subject of anti-corruption charges in Nigeria, the UK and US. Now, the investigation has spread to Dubai with EFCC operatives checking out the two properties located at E146 Emirates Hill and J5 Emirates Hill, said to be worth 74,000,000 dirham (N7.1bn).

Emirates Hill, which has been described as the Beverly Hills of the United Arab Emirates, is home to some of the richest men in the world including the billionaire chairman of the Stallion Group, Sunil Vaswani. Others, who are Diezani’s neighbours, include the immediate past prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif; a former president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari and Robert Mugabe junior, the son of the President of Zimbabwe.

One EFCC source said that the anti-graft agency was already applying for the forfeiture of the properties through the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation. If the commission is able to clear all legal hurdles and ensure the final forfeiture of the property, it would bring the total amount of cash and assets finally recovered from Diezani to $200m (N70bn).

One detective said the anti-graft agency would exploit the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty the federal government had recently signed with the government of the UAE. These agreements, signed by President Muhammadu Buhari, are Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Civil and Commercial Matters, Agreement on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and an Extradition Treaty.