Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has dismissed allegations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that he duplicated the recovery process for the $310 million Abacha loot, which later accumulated to $322.5 million with interest.
In a statement issued by his media aide, Mohammed Doka, Malami described the anti-graft agency’s claims as baseless, inconsistent, and lacking factual grounding.
He insisted the allegations could not stand when subjected to proper scrutiny.
Malami argued that the EFCC’s claim, that he repeated a recovery process allegedly completed by Swiss lawyer Enrico Monfrini before 2015, was factually incorrect.
According to him, a recovery is only deemed complete when funds are deposited into the Federation Account, noting that as of 2016, no such deposit had been made.
“As at 2016, there was no lodgement of any such funds into the Federation Account. There was therefore no completed recovery in existence, and nothing whatsoever to duplicate,” he stated.
He further disclosed that Monfrini himself applied in December 2016 to be re-engaged for the same recovery effort, an action Malami said contradicts EFCC’s narrative.
“It is entirely illogical for a lawyer to apply in December 2016 to be engaged to recover funds he purportedly recovered two years earlier. That singular fact exposes the internal contradiction and absurdity of the EFCC’s narrative,” he said.
Malami added that Monfrini had demanded a $5 million upfront payment and a success fee of 40 percent, later reduced to 20 percent, terms the Buhari administration rejected.
Instead, the government hired a Nigerian law firm on a 5 percent success-fee basis, which he said saved Nigeria between 15 and 35 percent of the recovered sum, amounting to between ₦76.8 billion and ₦179.2 billion.
He also highlighted separate tranches of the Abacha loot recovery completed under his supervision:
– $322.5 million from Switzerland (2017–2018), used for Conditional Cash Transfers under World Bank supervision
– About $321 million from Jersey in 2020, allocated to major infrastructure projects including the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, Abuja–Kano Road, and the Second Niger Bridge
Malami said any attempt to merge these recoveries or portray them as duplication was misleading and aimed at distorting facts.
He stressed that all actions taken during his tenure were lawful, aligned with constitutional responsibilities, and carried out in the public interest.
He dismissed allegations of money laundering or abuse of office as unfounded and politically motivated, describing the EFCC investigation as a witch-hunt.
Malami confirmed that he honoured an EFCC invitation on November 28, 2025, and described the session as “fruitful,” expressing confidence that the ongoing probe would eventually clear his name.
