• Friday, March 29, 2024
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ICPC recovers over N50 billion from defaulting estate developers

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The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) recovered a total of N50 billion from real estate developers who defaulted in remittance and payment of money due to the government.

ICPC Chairman Bolaji Owasanoye who disclosed this when he appeared before the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on operations of real estate developers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Thursday, said the recovery was after the completion of the task of the defunct Special Presidential Investigation Panel on recovery of public property.

According to Owasanoye, the agency had received a number of petitions from stakeholders in the real estate and housing sector, off-takers, prospective buyers, and the general public on the antics of real estate developers within and outside the nation’s capital,
Abuja.

“They border on forgery, the closing of land documents, double or multiple land allocations, allocation of land without the minister’s approval, revocation of the land title without due process, non-delivery of projects, embezzlement of sourced capital, land racketeering, the use of land syndicates and speculators, the marketing of fake layouts.

“Fraudulent allocation of land, inordinate delay in the processing of land documents for those who subscribe to their projects, general abuse of office, bribery, dishonesty, fraud, payment scams, or the refusal of government itself to pay fair value for acquired land and the concomitant refusal of settlers and traditional owners to give access to legitimate land allottees and other related issues and challenges,” he said.

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The ICPC Chairman also said the agency has recovered 241 houses from an undisclosed public officer in Abuja while 60 buildings on a large expanse of land were also taken from another public officer in the nation’s capital.

He decried the situation where corrupt public officers use real estate investment as a vehicle for hiding ill-gotten wealth and money laundering.

“Public officers acquire estates in pseudonyms to conceal the illegal origin of funds. This is made possible by the absence of proper documentation, the registration of titles to land and estates in the country, and the non-enforcement of beneficial ownership standards. A tour around Abuja especially the metropolis and the central area, would show a lot of estates that are built up but empty.

“If they had been constructed with funds that were borrowed at market rates, I don’t think any investor would such proprieties empty. One way or the other they would put them to use. So it is suspected that some of those estates have been used to launder ill-gotten public funds,” he said.

Owasanoye also accused the Real Estate Developers of Association of Nigeria (REDAN) of working with some unscrupulous persons in the system to thwart the efforts of the government to provide housing for the citizenry.

“Our investigations have led to the recovery of assets and funds, which are either considered to have been diverted that were retrieved in the public interest. In some situations, we have simply ensured that the projects that contemplated were delivered to the beneficiaries who had paid for them”, he added.

While declaring the event open, Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila said about N6 trillion is needed to overcome the current housing deficit in Nigeria, which is estimated to be between 17 and 20 million housing units and also said to be increasing annually by 900,000 units.