Bolaji Owasanoye, chairman of The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has narrated how the agency recovered 301 illegally acquired houses from two public officials in the federal capital territory (FCT), Abuja.
Owasanoye said several petitions on sharp practices of real estate developers in the FCT led the commission to probe the industry activities.
Speaking on Thursday at an investigative hearing organised by the house of representatives ad hoc committee on the operations of real estate developers in the federal capital territory (FCT), the ICPC boss said: “Even though we have not aggregated the numbers that relate to land matters, we have, however, received a number of petitions from stakeholders in the real estate and housing sector, off-takers, prospective buyers and the general public regarding the behaviour and antics of real estate developers within the FCT, and sometimes outside of the FCT on this very important subject matter,”
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“These complaints and petitions are varied; they border on forgery, the closing of land documents, double or multiple land allocations, allocation of land without the minister’s approval, revocation of 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 processing of land documents for those who subscribe to their projects, general abuse of office, and other related issues and challenges.
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“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.
