The last has not been heard of
the controversies surrounding the payment of the 5% commission to the
whistleblower who gave the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) tips
that led to the recovery of $43.4 million, N23.3 million and 27,800 Euros stashed
in an apartment at the Osborne Towers in Ikoyi, Lagos, on April 22, 2017.
This is as the original
whistleblowers have petitioned the office of the Attorney General of the
Federation(AGF) and Minister of Justice.
Their petition was obtained and
released to the media by PRNigeria on Tuesday.
Dated August 24th, 2017;
addressed to the AGF and received on September 8th, 2017, solicitors to the
claimants, No Limit Legal Partners, on behalf of Messrs Abdulmumin Musa, Stephen
Sunday and Bala Usman, told the AGF that his clients by the workings of EFCC
have shortchanged the whistleblowers by bringing others who were not the
arrowhead of the whistleblowing.
The solicitors noted that “Our
clients informed us sometime in December 2016 that three (3) of them
voluntarily walked into the office of the EFCC at 15A Awolowo Road Ikoyi, Lagos
and gave vital information that led to the recovery of over N13 billion at the
Ikoyi Towers, Lagos.”
The Legal Practitioners further
told the AGF that “upon subsequent visit to give a detailed information as
required by the commission to raid the Tower, they were told if the operation
was successful, 5% of the amount recovered will be their take-home within 72
hours of recovery, they were also cautioned that if the information happened to
be false, then they will definitely be in trouble which the three mentioned
above accepted because they were sure of their facts”.
“That when the operation was
carried out, it was successful but since then they have not received any
commendation by the commission, let alone give any reward as stated even though
the EFCC have their names and phone numbers”.
The petitioners said rather than
to do the needful, some of the EFCC staff gave them further information that
they were not the only people who gave them information on the Ikoyi Tower as
others were also involved without mentioning them.
Upon various meetings by the
three persons, they agreed to go back and meet the Head of EFCC operations,
Alhaji Samaila Muhammed and were told on their visit that the numbers have
increased to nine (9) who made the report urging them to bring the remaining
persons.
Reacting, Special Adviser to the
Minister of Finance on Media, Yinka Akintunde said that such issues be referred
to EFCC.
He said it was not the
responsibility of the Ministry.
He added that the ministry would
only come in when the rightful persons have been duly recognised by the
relevant authorities for payment after due process.
Also reacting, Head of Media and
Publicity of the EFCC, Mr Wilsom Uwujaren, explained the role of the commission
on the matter.
He said several persons have in
the past besieged the commission to say that they were part of whistleblowing.
He confirmed to PRNigeria that
the commission has records of the original whistleblowers of the Ikoyi Towers,
stressing that all will be done to make sure that the right persons are paid
accordingly.
Meanwhile, the petitioners are
heading to the court to stop the payment to those they described as wrong
persons.
They added that two clear months
after the submission of the petition to the AGF, nothing concrete had been done
by the Minister to look into their matter.
They alleged that the EFCC sold
out in the processes leading to the recovery of the said amount, stating that
the development would discourage genuine whistleblowers in the fight against
corruption by the present administration.
Her response followed outrage by
Nigerians accusing government of unwillingness to pay the whistleblower his/her
5% commission as enshrined in the policy.
The Minister said “the Federal
Government has not withheld any fund due to any whistleblower. The Ministry has
in place detailed procedures for processing payments due under the
Whistleblower Policy.”
“The procedures were designed to
prevent abuse and legal disputes and to ensure protection of the information
providers.
“These procedures include an
application by the agency who recovered the funds including evidence of the
recovery, confirmation that there are no pending legal issues on the recovery,
verification of the identity of the information provider, calculation of the
amount payable and computation of relevant taxes”.
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