Abubakar Malami, the former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, dismissed the claims put forward by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) concerning the retrieval of the $322.5 million Abacha loot, calling them “unfounded, illogical, and factually unsupported.”
DAILY POST reported that Malami was called in for questioning by the EFCC on Friday, November 28, then released and scheduled for new dates for subsequent interrogation. The EFCC is investigating the alleged repetition in the recovery of the Abacha loot, in addition to charges of public office misuse and money laundering.
In a statement made on Sunday, Malami asserted that the EFCC’s investigation was founded on the belief that Enrico Monfrini, a lawyer from Switzerland, had finished the recovery before Malami’s term began in 2015.
He countered that the accusation loses credibility when compared against verified documents.
In his view, the retrieval of illegal funds is only complete once the money has been deposited into the Federation Account. He pointed out that as of 2016, when the matter was re-examined by the Buhari government, no such deposit had been made.
Malami further noted that in December 2016, several legal professionals, including Monfrini, applied to be contracted for the same recovery effort, an action he claims contradicts the idea that the process had been finished years before.
He detailed that Monfrini had requested an initial $5 million payment and a 40 percent commission for success, later lowered to 20 percent. The government rejected these conditions, Malami explained, consistent with its rule that no upfront payments should be made and that commissions must not be higher than 5 percent.
Malami stated that a law firm based in Nigeria was eventually hired with a 5 percent success commission, which resulted in savings for the nation between 15 and 35 percent of the recovered sum, equivalent to tens of billions of naira at current currency rates.
He also clarified that the Abacha loot retrieved during his time in office arrived in distinct amounts: $322.5 million sent back from Switzerland between 2017 and 2018, allocated to Conditional Cash Transfers under the National Social Investment Programme, with oversight by the World Bank and civil society groups; and $321 million sent back from Jersey in 2020, designated for significant construction projects including the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, the Abuja–Kano Road, and the Second Niger Bridge.
Malami argued that efforts to merge the amounts or suggest that the recovery was redundant do not reflect the actual facts.
He insisted that his actions as Attorney General were conducted “with openness and for the benefit of the public,” maintaining that the claims against him lack any legitimate basis.
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