Investigators have linked a bulk of the wealth of Abubakar Malami, the former attorney-general of the federation, to a number of sources, according to reports.
The restoration of Abacha loot to Nigeria, outstanding loans obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the anchor borrowers scheme, and Paris Club reimbursements to states rank highest on the list.
Recall that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had detained Malami pending his arraignment in a federal high court in Abuja.
Malami has been linked to properties valued at more than N200 billion. The assets are thought to have been obtained during his tenure as former President Muhammadu Buhari’s attorney general from 2015 to 2023.
However, he denied all allegations in statements by his media team, alleging political persecution and promising to defend himself in court.
PARIS CLUB REFUNDS
The federal government had chosen to withdraw $418 million from state budgets in order to pay consultants about the Paris Club refund, based on Malami’s legal advice.
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After paying $12 billion in exchange for a write-off of $18 billion of its $30 billion debts accrued since the early 1980s, Nigeria left the Paris Club of creditors in 2005.
However, the federal government, under former President Obasanjo, paid the $12 billion from the federation purse regardless of how much was owed by the federal, state and local governments to the creditors.
Following the states’ protests, it was determined that they should be reimbursed because the federal government had collected the majority of the debts, and the majority of the states owed no international creditors.
The federal government hired consultants to determine the amount to be reimbursed to the states, and they charged a commission exceeding $400 million.
Read Also: Fresh Petition against Abubakar Malami ex-AGF EFCC, Says
Malami insisted that the consultants be paid from state appropriations, to be deducted at source, despite the Nigeria Governors’ Forum’s (NGF) opposition to the arrangement.
During a media spat in 2021 and 2022, the NGF claimed that Malami was working for the consultants rather than the country and accused him of following “selfish interest.”
“We’re constrained by the manner in which the honorable attorney-general has been going around various media houses and purporting to create the impression that this is a liability to which governors had committed themselves to and agreed to, even though he is very much aware that that’s not the case,” the NGF said.
“And we reject all of the claims that he has made on this issue. And we also insist that states will not give up on insisting that these purported claims are fraudulent and will not stand as far as governors are concerned and we would take every constitutional and legal means to ensure that these purported consultancy are fully litigated upon by the highest court in the land.”
ANCHOR BORROWERS’ PROGRAMME
The CBN introduced the anchor borrowers program (ABP) in 2015 as a development finance project to increase domestic food production, generate employment, and lower food imports.
In order to help farmers boost yields and supply processors, the ABP was to give them agricultural inputs like seeds, fertiliser, and money for labour.
This was done in order to support food and provide a value chain link from farm to market.
Investigators found that Malami obtained an N4 billion loan that was never paid back by using the identity of one of his wives, Hajiya Bashir Asabe.
According to reports, wife has now been charged to court along with him.
The CBN disbursed more than N1 trillion on the ABP and has yet to recover more than N600 billion, which has led to conjecture that a sizable amount of the disbursements may have been political slush funds.
ABACHA LOOT COMMISSION
In 2016, Malami hired the services of two Nigerian lawyers — Oladipo Okpeseyi and Temitope Isaac Adebayo — for the repatriation of $321 million stolen by Sani Abacha, the former military head of state.
The repatriation of the pilfered money began prior to the 2015 administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Under previous President Goodluck Jonathan, the funds had been recovered and frozen in 2013. However, the Abachas’ lawsuit in 2015 caused the repatriation process to stop.
Enrico Monfrini and Christian Luscher, two Swiss solicitors, were hired by the federal government in 2013 and 2014 to retrieve the money that had been pilfered from Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. The money was deposited with the Swiss attorney general.
In addition to paying Monfrini almost $6.8 million in fees for the Liechtenstein seizures, Nigeria had paid four percent of the recovered Luxembourg assets as professional fees and expenses to the foreign solicitors.
Malami, who was the AGF at the time, merely needed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Swiss authorities and pledge that the money would be used appropriately because Nigeria had already paid all of the costs.
However, in a suspicious move in December 2017, Malami hired the two Nigerian solicitors, costing the nation $16.9 million in commission and professional costs from the money that was recovered.
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Sources revealed that Okpeseyi and Adebayo have been detained and interrogated by the EFCC.
“They made useful statements to the EFCC,” a source privy to the development know told TheCable.
Investigators at the anti-graft agency reportedly traced funds to Malami following the release of the duplicate commission.
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