Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has revealed why he remains in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) despite voluntarily honouring the agency’s invitation on Monday.
Malami is currently being interrogated over several allegations, including terrorism financing, the ownership of 46 bank accounts, the engagement of multiple law firms in the recovery of the $322.5 million Abacha loot, and the disbursement of funds under the conditional cash transfer scheme.
However, in a statement issued on Wednesday by his Special Assistant on Media, Mohammed Bello Doka, the former minister said he was detained without being informed of any new offence.
He noted that the EFCC simply told him his previous administrative bail had been revoked, even though he never violated its terms.
Malami said he had been given fresh bail conditions and was ready to meet them once the EFCC authorises the process.
He firmly dismissed the allegations of terrorism financing and ownership of 46 bank accounts, describing them as “false, baseless, and part of a coordinated media smear campaign.”
According to Doka, Malami has never been questioned by any security or intelligence agency, locally or internationally, regarding terrorism financing.
He added that the retired military officer whose comments were recently cited in the media had already clarified that he never accused Malami of such acts.
The statement also highlighted Malami’s contributions during his time as Attorney-General, including strengthening Nigeria’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing systems.
Doka listed the establishment of an independent NFIU, and the enactment of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, reforms that helped remove Nigeria from the FATF grey list.
Addressing concerns about duplicated legal representation in the recovery of the Abacha funds, Doka explained that the Buhari administration had rejected the terms proposed by Swiss lawyer Enrico Monfrini, who allegedly demanded a $5 million upfront payment and a success fee of up to 40 percent.
He said Malami later negotiated a 5 percent all-inclusive success fee with Nigerian lawyers, saving the country between ₦76.8 billion and ₦179.2 billion, depending on the exchange rate.
He clarified that the recovered funds were repatriated in phases and deployed strictly according to agreements with international partners.
These included the 2017–2018 $322 million from Switzerland, released through the National Social Investment Programme under World Bank supervision, and the $321 million repatriated from Jersey in 2020, which funded major infrastructure projects such as the Second Niger Bridge, the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, and the Abuja–Kano Highway.
Malami, who served as AGF from 2015 to 2023, had previously confirmed on November 28 that he received EFCC’s invitation and would honour it as a “law-abiding and patriotic citizen.”
Meanwhile, the EFCC has maintained that Malami is being detained for failing to meet his bail conditions and because of ongoing investigations into multiple cases linked to him.
