The EFCC, has given conditions under which it will enter into plea bargain negotiations with some former Air Force chiefs who are currently under prosecution for fraud.
They are former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu (retd.), a former Chief of Accounts and Budgeting in Nigerian Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Jacob Adigun and a former Director of Finance and Budget, Air Commodore Olugbenga Gbadebo.
For the deal to materialise, the anti graft body says they will have to forfeit the 33 properties alleged to have been bought with stolen funds.
Aside the forfeiture of the properties, they are also expected to enter into a guilty plea and receive a reduced sentence.
These conditions, reports say, forms part of the conditions the EFCC is giving the accused persons as terms of the plea bargain they requested for.
According to a security source, if the suspects accept these conditions, the EFCC would appeal to the court to temper justice with mercy.
The EFCC is prosecuting Amosu and the two others, alongside eight companies for allegedly stealing N22.8bn from the coffers of the Nigeria Air Force, NAF between 2014 and 2015.
The source said: “We will not want to rock the boat because negotiations are still ongoing. However, since Amosu, Adigun and Gbadebo have opted for plea bargain, we expect them to permanently forfeit all the properties linked to them.
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“Afterwards, they will enter a guilty plea and receive a reduced sentence. This was what we did for the Managing Director of the defunct Oceanic Bank, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru, who was jailed after she pleaded guilty and forfeited 103 choice houses and shares in 77 companies in Nigeria in 2010.
The three accused persons, according to an EFCC document, were said to have returned over N2.8bn to the Federal Government, while properties such as plazas, schools, mansions, farms, a hospital and a quarry had been seized from them.
Amosu reportedly returned N2.6bn cash while Gbadebo was said to have returned N190m. Adigun’s wife was equally said to have returned some money.
The document also revealed that properties recovered from Adigun were worth N9.6bn.
The properties, according to the document, include a shopping plaza known as Capadar Plaza on Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja, which is worth N980m; a residential mansion on Lake Chad Street, Maitama, worth N450m; an executive mansion in Imo River Close off Dandube Crescent, Maitama, worth N710m, and a four-unit terrace on Agadez Street off Aminu Kano crescent, Wuse 2, worth N720m.
Other properties belonging to Adigun included a 35-room uncompleted hotel on Salt Lake Street, Maitama, Abuja; a parcel of land located on Bourdillon Street, Ikoyi, Lagos; a block of 12 service flats located on Agodogba Street, Park View Estate, Ikoyi, said to be worth N1.8bn and a quarry in Bwari area of Abuja worth about $694,000.
All these properties had been seized temporarily.
The properties seized from Amosu were said to be worth N1.5bn. These included a house on Adeyemo Alakija Street, GRA Ikeja, worth N250m; a duplex at House 11, Peace Court Estate, GRA Ikeja, worth N110m; a N40m property located at NAF Harmony Estate, Asokoro Base, and a five-bedroom house at Valley NAF Estate, Port Harcourt, worth N33m.
Others are a hospital on Adeniyi Jones Avenue known as St Solomon Hospital, with equipment worth $2.15m; and a N95m house on Umaru Dikko Street, Jabi.
From Gbadebo, the EFCC seized properties worth N495m. These include a fish farm worth N10m, a N20m poultry in Lagos and a school known as Bloomsville International School, Divine Estate, Isheri Olofin, off Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
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