Mr. Abubakar Malami who is Nigeria’s Attorney General of the Federation yesterday appeared before the House of Reps ad-hoc committee investigating the alleged loss of over $2.4 billion in unremitted oil revenue.
Africa Today News, New York had earlier reported that the revenue in question is from the illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil export from 2014 till date.
Recall that last Thursday, the chairman of the committee, Mark Gbillah announced that Malami will face the lawmakers on April 27.
He revealed that the committee obtained reports that Malami received funds from outside the country through the whistle-blower policy but did not remit it to the federation account.
The lawmaker also said the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, approved payments to whistleblowers which were not in accordance with the policy.
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But appearing before the lawmakers, the Minister of Justice said that disclosing the details of the whistle-blowers as requested by the committee violates confidentiality.
With regard to details of accounts into which recoveries were paid, Malami stated that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) maintained these accounts, not the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation. Malami argued that his office is not a signatory, nor does it manage the accounts.
According to him, over $650 million have so far been recovered from different sources including late Head of State, General Sani Abacha; former Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamiesiegha, and former Delta State Governor, James Ibori.
The House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil, amounting to over $2.4 billion, and crude oil export to China from 2014 to date had revealed that it has uncovered payment of $200 million allegedly made as consultancy fees in whistleblower recoveries by the Attorney General within statutory approvals.