Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has denied allegations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) linking him to the duplication of the recovery process for the Abacha loot.
In a statement issued on Sunday by his media aide, Mohammed Doka, Malami said the allegations of abuse of office and money laundering collapsed upon factual review.
He confirmed that he honoured an EFCC invitation on Nov. 28 over issues relating to the recovery of the $310 million — later $322.5 million with accrued interest — Abacha assets.
According to him, the EFCC’s claim that he duplicated a recovery process allegedly concluded by Swiss lawyer Enrico Monfrini before he assumed office in 2015 had no factual basis.
“The allegation collapses when subjected to facts and logic. As of 2016, no lodgement of such funds had been made into the Federation Account. There was, therefore, no completed recovery to duplicate,” he said.
Malami stated that Monfrini’s application in December 2016 to be re-engaged for the same recovery further showed that no prior recovery had been finalised.
He said the Swiss lawyer demanded a 5 million-dollar upfront payment and a success fee of 40 per cent, later reduced to 20 per cent — terms rejected by the Buhari administration.
The former attorney-general said the government instead engaged a Nigerian law firm on a five per cent success-fee arrangement, saving the country between 15 and 35 per cent of the recovered funds, amounting to between ₦76.8 billion and ₦179.2 billion.
He said he supervised separate recoveries, including 322.5 million dollars from Switzerland between 2017 and 2018, which was used for conditional cash transfers under World Bank oversight, and about 321 million dollars from Jersey in 2020 for major infrastructure projects.
Malami said attempts to conflate the distinct recoveries or describe them as duplication were misleading.
He maintained that all actions taken under his office were in line with constitutional responsibilities and carried out in the public interest.
“The claims suggesting abuse of office or money laundering are not supported by any reasonable grounds for suspicion,” he said.
He described the EFCC probe as a political witch-hunt but expressed confidence that the investigation would exonerate him.
“The allegations remain baseless and devoid of substance. I remain confident that truth and law will prevail,” he said.
