FORMER Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has dismissed claims by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that he duplicated the recovery of the $310m Abacha loot.
He described the allegations as “baseless, illogical and lacking in substance.”
Malami’s position followed reports that the EFCC seized his international passport and placed him under a one-month restriction that compels him to report at the commission’s headquarters daily.
The former minister was interrogated for hours on November 28 over the handling of about $490m linked to the late Head of State, Sani Abacha, a general.
Malami, a senior advocate, in a statement Sunday night, through his media aide, Mohammed Bello Doka, said he was invited by the EFCC on November 28, over suspicions of abuse of office and money laundering linked to the repatriation of the funds.
“The EFCC informed me that its inquiry relates to an alleged duplication in the recovery of the $310 million Abacha loot, which by accrual of interest rose to about $322.5million as of the time I eventually succeeded in recovering the funds for the Federal Government and, flowing from that assumption, two allegations were majorly raised, namely: abuse of office, and money laundering,” he wrote.
He said the anti-graft agency alleged that the recovery process had been concluded by a Swiss lawyer, Enrico Monfrini, before he took office in 2015.
He argued that the allegation “collapses when subjected to facts and elementary logic.” According to him, no funds had been lodged into the Federation Account as of 2016 when the Buhari administration revived negotiations for the repatriation of the money, which had accrued to about $322.5 million with interest.
“It is trite to state from the onset that recovery of illicit funds can legally be said to have been completed upon the actual lodgement of recovered funds into the Federation Account.
“As of 2016, when the Buhari administration initiated the process relating to the said $310 million (later $322.5 million with interest), there was no lodgement of any such funds into the Federation Account. There was, therefore, no completed recovery in existence, and nothing whatsoever to duplicate.
“More instructive and revealing is the undisputed fact that in December 2016, several lawyers applied to be engaged for the recovery of these same funds — Mr. Monfrini himself included. It is entirely illogical for a lawyer to apply in December 2016 to be engaged to recover funds he purportedly recovered two years earlier. That singular fact exposes the internal contradiction and absurdity of the EFCC’s narrative,” Malami said.
According to him, Monfrini demanded a $5 million upfront payment and 40 per cent success fee, which was later reduced to 20 per cent.
He added that the Buhari administration rejected the proposal because it violated its policy of zero upfront deposits and capped success fees at five per cent, noting that the government instead engaged a Nigerian law firm on an all-inclusive five per cent fee.
“At an average exchange rate of ₦1,600 to the dollar, a 15 percent saving on $320 million amounts to approximately ₦76.8 billion, while a 35 per cent saving translates to about ₦179.2 billion. These are concrete, measurable benefits to the Nigerian state.
“Accordingly, any claim or investigation suggesting abuse of office or money laundering in relation to the $322.5million is not rooted in any reasonable ground for suspicion. It is neither supported by facts nor by logic,” the statement added.
Malami further explained that the $322.5 million repatriated from Switzerland between 2017 and 2018 was deployed through the National Social Investment Programme under World Bank and civil society monitoring.
He said another tranche of about $321 million recovered from Jersey in 2020 was committed to major infrastructure projects such as the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, Abuja–Kano Road and the Second Niger Bridge.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M