Court Orders Final Forfeiture Of NOK University, Related Assets To FG

• High Court in Abuja ordered the final forfeiture of NOK University and related assets to the Federal Government.

• The court ruled that the university failed to prove that the assets were not acquired with proceeds of crime.

• Additional investments by Hassan, including Gwasmyen Water Factory, Gwasmyen International Hotel, and Gwasmyen Event Centre, are also subject to forfeiture.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that a Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of all assets belonging to NOK University, a private institution located in Kaduna State, to the Federal Government.

In her ruling on Friday, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik concluded that Anthony Hassan, the university’s promoter, did not provide convincing evidence to refute claims that he acquired the assets using proceeds from criminal activities.

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In addition to NOK University, three other investments by Hassan, a former Director of Finance and Accounts in the Federal Ministry of Health, are also subject to forfeiture. These investments include Gwasmyen Water Factory, Gwasmyen International Hotel, and Gwasmyen Event Centre, all situated in Kaduna.

The physical assets of NOK University to be forfeited include the Senate building, ICT building, Faculty of Medicine building, Science Deanery building, two academic buildings, a Faculty Hall, and several other structures.

Justice Abdulmalik dismissed the defense by Hassan and his company, KYC Inter-Project Limited, that the university was funded by other investors. The judge also rejected the claim by Barrister Victor Olisah, who argued that he owned the six plots of land on which Gwasmyen International Hotel was built, citing insufficient evidence to establish his ownership.

The judgment was on an application for final forfeiture brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to which the court had in 2022 granted an interim forfeiture order in respect of the assets.

Justice Abdulmalik held that the EFCC, through its lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho effectively established, with suffecient evidence, that Hassan acquired the said assets with proceeds of crime.

The judge held that Hassan and KYC failed woefully to show with cogent documentary event the financial trails of how they sourced funds to acquire the assets.

The EFCC had, in an affidavit supporting the application for plfinal forfeiture, stated that its investigation showed the Hassan, who has always been a civil servant, used its position to confer undue advantage on himself.

The EFCC stated that Hassan,  “who was a civil servant, rose through the ranks to become a Director in the Civil Service of the Federation.

“In the course of his career, he was posted to the Federal Ministry of Health from 2001 to 2008;  Federal Ministry of Women Affairs from 2009 to 2015;  Ministry of Niger Delta in 2015; Ministry of Youth and Sport Development from 2015 to 2016;  Ministry of Health from 2016 to 2019; and Ministry of Works and Housing from 2019 to 2020.”

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