The Nigerian government has recovered $633.8 million and £9.709 million looted funds from Switzerland, the Island of Jersey and the United Kingdom from 2017 to date.
Out of these, $322 million was recovered in December 2017 from Switzerland; $311,797,866.11 from the Island of Jersey and the United Kingdom in May 2020; £5,494,743.71 from the Republic of Northern Ireland (Abacha loot); and £4,214,017 from the UK in May 2021 (Ibori loot).
Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, made these disclosures in Abuja at the investigative hearing of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on assessment and status of all recovered loot, movable and immovable assets by agencies of the Federal Government for effective, efficient management and utilisation.
Idris said all the recovered assets have been lodged with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Account on Assets Recovery and the receipts of the amounts have been confirmed by the apex bank.
Responding to lawmakers’ questions on the opening of separate accounts for recovered looted funds besides the four accounts he mentioned during his submission, Ahmed said: “We open the accounts, we run the accounts, we are the custodian of the accounts but only Mr President has the absolute powers to direct on the expenditure of the accounts. All the accounts are linked to TSA.
READ ALSO: Here are steps to process your motor insurance claims
“There are four recovery accounts but in addition, we also have dollar accounts, pound, and euro accounts. Main assets account, final forfeiture account, interim account. For the guidance of the committee, the list is attached to the documents that I have submitted to the Committee.”
The Committee berated the Accountant General over the borrowings from the assets recovery account by government agencies, particularly the sum of $23 million from the account which is yet to be refunded.
In his intervention, Chairman of the Committee, Adejoro Adeogun, wondered why money can be taken from the coffers of the government without appropriation, stressing that unless the Accountant General provides evidence of the refund, it would be considered that such withdrawals were made illegally.
He said the Committee would meet with the Accountant General on Thursday in a closed-door meeting to give a breakdown of such borrowings by government agencies and also to prove such monies have been refunded.
“What we are trying to draw attention to is that money is being borrowed out from the recovery account and not being refunded. Unless you are able to prove to us that it was refunded, we consider that to mean that payments have been made illegally,” Adeogun said.
Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, who also appeared before the Committee said the National Assembly was slowing down effective management of recovered assets by the non-passage of the Proceeds of Crimes Bill.
He said the Bill has put in place effective mechanisms, both in terms of database, disposal, processes and procedure to manage recovered assets.
