April 27, (THEWILL) – The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has told the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the alleged loss of over $2.4 billion in unremitted oil revenue that disclosing details of a whistleblower violates confidentiality.
Malami spoke on Thursday, when he appeared before the Committee.
The Ad-hoc Committee is investigating the alleged loss of over $2.4 billion in unremitted oil revenue. The revenue is from the illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil export from 2014 till date.
Both the AGF and the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, were invited to clarify the operation of the whistleblower policy and approvals being made.
The lawmakers had invited Malami to appear before it to respond to the allegations that he approved the payment of the sum of $200 million to two private firms as consultancy services fees on whistleblowers’ recoveries.
Chairman of the Committee, Mark Gbillah, said, last week, 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 panel equally demanded the appearance of Mrs Ahmed, to explain her role in the said approvals and payment without providing details of actual recoveries from whistleblowers.
But, appearing before the lawmakers on Thursday, Malami said disclosing the details of the whistleblowers as requested by the Committee violates confidentiality.
Concerning details of accounts into which recoveries were paid, Malami said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) maintained these accounts, not the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation.
He 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.
