In 2016, Abubakar Malami, former attorney-general of the federation (AGF), 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.
Malami engaged the two lawyers barely one year after he assumed office to act on his behalf in a suspicious move as the country incurred additional four percent of repatriated funds from commission and professional fees.
The repatriation of the stolen funds started before the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
The money had been recovered and frozen in 2013 under former President Goodluck Jonathan but the repatriation process was stalled in 2015 following a lawsuit filed by the Abachas.
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From 2013 to 2014, the federal government had engaged the services of Swiss lawyers, Enrico Monfrini and Christian Luscher, to recover the stolen funds from Liechtenstein and Luxembourg — and domiciled the monies with the attorney-general of Switzerland.
Nigeria had paid four percent of the recovered Luxemburg assets as professional fees and expenses to the foreign lawyers, in addition to roughly $6.8 million in fees paid to Monfrini for the Liechtenstein recoveries.
Since all the fees had been paid by Nigeria, it was expected that Malami, who was the then AGF, would sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Swiss authorities and commit to an undertaking that the funds would be properly utilised.
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However, in December 2017, TheCable reported that Malami, in what appeared to be a suspicious move, engaged the services of the two Nigerian lawyers, which cost the country $16.9 million as commission and professional fees from the recovered funds.
TheCable reported that Malami engaged the two lawyers to duplicate the job of the Swiss lawyers and get their own cut from the already done deal.
Okpeseyi and Adebayo were lawyers to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) — the legacy party of Buhari — that merged to form the current All Progressives Congress (APC). Malami was legal adviser to CPC.
A senior official of the ministry of justice had told TheCable that “this is a case of re-looting Abacha loot”.
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“A simple letter from the office of our attorney-general of the federation to the Swiss attorney-general requesting the repatriation of the funds to Nigeria consequent upon the signing of an MoU was all that was required to consummate the deal,” the official had said.
Following TheCable’s report on the suspicious engagement of the two lawyers, an article apparently sponsored to discredit the platform alleged that Monfrini was asking for an additional 20 percent to “complete the job”.
Malami allegedly made a counter offer of five percent which Monfrini rejected, and this reportedly prompted Malami to engage the services of two Nigerian lawyers.
However, Monfrini, in an email sent to TheCable in April 2018, denied the allegation, while describing it as a “lie”.
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“I never had the audacity to claim for additional fees. This figure of 20% is simply invented. I didn’t reject any proposal made by Mr Malami since my fees were already paid a long time before Mr Malami’s appointment as attorney general,” the lawyer said.
Monfrini also told TheCable in a series of interviews that hiring the new lawyers was needless because he had already completed the task.
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Recently, Malami reiterated the allegation that Monfrini reportedly demanded additional 40 percent of the recovered loot, which was renegotiated to 20 percent.
In December 2017, Nigeria and Switzerland sealed an MoU for the return of $321 million traced to Abacha.
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THE FOI SAGA
In December 2017, TheCable Newspaper Journalism Foundation (CNJF), a not-for-profit organisation that uses the vehicle of journalism to advance transparency and accountability in government, sent a freedom of information (FOI) request to Malami.
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In the FoI request, CJNF asked the AGF to provide details of payment to lawyers who worked on the repatriated $321 million fund stolen by Abacha.
The foundation also requested details of the role Monfrini, hired by the federal government since 2000 for the recovery job, had played in this particular transaction for which he was already paid in 2014.
Malami refused to honour the foundation’s request.
On January 10, 2018, the foundation sued Malami over his failure to respond to a FoI request on the engagement of lawyers for the recovery of stolen funds.
The case, with suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/27/2018, was filed by Kusamotu & Kusamotu law chambers at a federal high court in Abuja.
The foundation’s lawyer sought an order of mandamus compelling the AGF to make available to CNJF the information and documents requested from its office pursuant to the FoI act, 2011.
In September 2019, that court dismissed the foundation’s suit citing non-submission of the certified true copies of the foundation’s registration documents.
Inyang Ekwo, the presiding judge, had ruled that CNJF had provided a photocopy of its certificate of incorporation “in contravention of the rules of evidence which stipulate that such evidence ought to be a certified true copy and not a mere photocopy. Therefore, the court found that the photocopy tendered in evidence was inadmissible”.
Ekwo had argued that the portion of the affidavit in support of CNJF’s application wherein it stated what its objectives are according to its constitution is not proved by simply stating it in the affidavit.
He added that a certified true copy of the said constitution filed with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) must be filed together with the affidavit and tendered as evidence.
Without considering the merits of CNJF’s application, the court ruled that the foundation has not been able to prove that it is a duly incorporated organisation that is capable of bringing the action.
The AGF did not raise any of the issues mentioned by the judge in his defence.
RECENT DEVELOPMENT
Last week, Malami honoured an invitation from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In a post published across his social media accounts on November 29, the former AGF said his engagement with the anti-graft agency “was successful”, adding that he has been scheduled for “further engagement”.
Subsequently, Malami said EFCC asked him questions pertaining to the recovery of Abacha loot and the engagement of lawyers.
