Whistle blowers, bedroom vaults and conspiracy theories    

The dizzying sums of money being discovered in private residences and business premises in recent times have been attributed to the success of the government’s whistle-blower policy spawning different theories about the timing, personalities involved and a distraction to other issues.

In a country where people have been suspected of coup attempts for remarks made at beer parlours and where private conversations of senior government officials are routinely leaked, the lines between the official and the street is often blurry.

An analysis of the views of Nigerians on social media indicate mixed reactions over the development question the timing of these discoveries not long after lawmakers rejected Ibrahim Magu as substantive chairman of the EFCC and the Federal Government insistence that he can serve in an acting capacity.

The EFCC Twitter account has been actively defending the organisation matching its traducers wit for wit in a battle to convince the majority of Nigerians of the sincerity of the organisation’s actions.

Adesuwa Jerry, on Twitter asked, “The large sum of money found in people’s homes that being seized, what are used for afterwards?”

Shortly afterwards a reply came from the official EFCC Twitter handle, “They are marked as exhibits. When the courts issue a final forfeiture order, the monies are paid to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government.”

The conspiracy theories notwithstanding, many say the absence of a legal framework for the protection of persons making the disclosures in line with the whistle blower policy is a critical issue requiring speedy legislative action.

Beyond just the media hoopla and large swathes of the masses foaming in the mouth over these discoveries, the risk for those blowing the whistle is heightened in the absence of a legal framework to guarantee their protection.

Worse still, EFCC’s atrocious prosecutorial record in recent times does not bode well for the chances of actually recovering these monies, suspected to be proceeds of corruption.

Mike Ozekhome, legal practitioner has said that the whistle blowing was a good idea but warned that the policy must be implemented with caution to ensure that the blowers were not made the victims of the policy.

Ozekhome said that the absence of legal mechanisms to protect whistleblowers from retaliation by the accused persons counts against the scheme.

“For example, if somebody is awarded N50 million for whistle blowing and the people in the system leak the information to the accused person, then the blower is in danger.

“Even if it is 20 years later if the person is still alive, the day he realised that you were the one that blew the whistle that led to his problem, he will go after you for revenge. “It is therefore a very dangerous double edge sward that must be handled carefully.’’

Sponsored by Biodum Olujinmi (PDP, Ekiti) the senate, the bills seeking to protect persons making disclosure for public interest (Whistle blowers) to be protected from the knowledge or aggression of the accused was has been marooned in the national assembly since for over a year.

Chances of a quick passage of the bill cannot be guaranteed as a result of the current face-off between the executive and the legislature recently borne out of the refusal of the lawmakers to confirm, Ibrahim Magu as substantive EFCC chairman.

“The national assembly is key to the success of any party politics as well as the government. This is so because of their closeness to the grass roots and their direct interaction with the masses. Losing that all important institution has been a source of worry for the party (APC),” Shaka Oyaregba, a logistics support service provider and portfolio management expert tells BDSUNDAY about the need to resolve the feud.

Delivering results

In  December 2016, the Federal Government launched a whistleblower policy where a person is expected to provide information on matters relating to mismanagement or misappropriation of public funds and assets (for example property and vehicles); financial malpractice or fraud; collecting/soliciting bribes; corruption; diversion of revenues; fraudulent and unapproved payments; splitting of contracts and procurement fraud (kickbacks and over-invoicing etc.).

A whistleblower can submit information through an online portal on the ministry of finance website by email or by phone.

“If there is a voluntary return of stolen or concealed public funds or assets on the account of the information provided, the whistleblower may be entitled to anywhere between 2.5 per cent (minimum) and 5.0 per cent (maximum) of the total amount recovered,” said Kemi Adeosun during the launch of the policy.

Two months later, Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, said that government’s Whistle-blower policy has started yielding result leading to the recovery of US$151 million and 8 billion Naira in looted funds. Last month, the Federal Government said 2,251 cases have been reported.

“The biggest amount of $136,676,600.51 was recovered from an account in a commercial bank, where the money was kept under an apparently fake account name, followed by 7 billion Naira and $15 million from another person and N1 billion from yet another,” said Mohammed.

Mohammed’s disclosure does not even take into account recoveries made when operatives of the anticorruption agency swooped on a building belonging to Andrew Yakubu, a former group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), in Kaduna and found the sum of $9,772,800 and another sum of £74,000 cash locked in fireproof cabinet on February 3.

On April 7, the EFCC uncovered a large sum of suspected laundered money in a shop at LEGICO Shopping Plaza, Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos. The money was stashed in several Ghana Must Go bags and were in N500 and N1000 denominations, hidden in a shop awaiting conversion into foreign currency.

Officials of the agency said the money was N448,850,000  which they could recover relying on information provided by a concerned whistleblower.

On April 11, the EFCC said a tip-off by a whistle blower led to another discovery of a staggering sum of N4billion suspected to be proceeds of crime.

Investigations as to the owner of the funds revealed that the money belongs to a former deputy governorship candidate in Niger State. The suspect was said to use the names of two companies– Katah Property & Investment Limited and Sadiq Air Travel Agency- in laundering the funds.

Each of the company has N2billion fixed in its deposit account domiciled in Guaranty Trust Bank. The suspected owner of the account and the account officer are currently on the run, claims the EFCC.

The most recent in the series is the recovery of $43.4m, £27,800 and N23.2m at the 7th floor of a four-bedroom apartment at Osborne Towers located at 16 Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The popular talk on the street is that the whistle blowers in the above recoveries would be smiling to the banks as millions are up for grabs. But the process of rewarding a whistle blower is a tad more complicated.

Information provided by the whistle-blower are reviewed and analysed to determine whether or not to open an investigation on the matter.

The whistle-blower gets a financial reward if there is a voluntary return of stolen or concealed public funds or assets on the account of the information provided. The information must be one the government did not already have and could not otherwise be obtained from any other publicly available source to the government.

In the case of false or misleading information, the whistle blower may be subjected to investigation and possible prosecution.