The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of
Justice, Abubakar Malami, has said whistleblowers are only paid commission
after successful recovery of funds, not for information or mere tracing.
Umar Gwandu, Special Assistant to the Minister on Media said
this in a statement on Sunday.
Malami clarified that “one does not get payment on account
of exposing looted assets, but on successful recovery and payment of same into
the designated assets’ recovery account at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’’.
He explained the procedure for engagement of a whistleblower
or recovery agent as it relates to the Office of the Attorney-General of the
Federation (OAGF)
The process starts with a proposal to the office. A letter
of engagement is then issued to a whistleblower or recovery agent where the
disclosure is assessed to have some prospects of success.
After this, the recovery agent or whistleblower is expected
to notify in writing the acceptance of the engagement.
The recovery agent or whistleblower is expected, upon
acceptance, to not only trace the assets but recover same.
This must be deposited in a “designated asset recovery
account maintained by the federal government in the Central Bank which is
usually provided to the recovery agent in writing’’.
The statement added that where these funds are eventually
claimed to have been lodged by a whistle-blower or recovery agent, the CBN
issues acknowledgement of receipt of the fund to the OAGF on demand.
Malami noted that the “satisfaction of the above elements
that entitles the whistleblower or a recovery agent to a claim of success fee
and the payment” is usually effected by the Federal Ministry of Finance and not
the OAGF.
The minister said the role of his office was simply,
“processing the above listed documents to the Ministry of Finance which is the
ministry saddled with the responsibility of effecting payment’’.
Malami stressed that recovery was not about exposing the
existence of certain assets in an account purported to have belonged to an
agency of the government.
He said it was about establishing that the funds in the
account are looted assets or illegitimately warehoused, following that up with
actual recovery and lodgment of the funds in the designated asset recovery
account.
Malami stated that entitlement to recovery fees was for all
intent and purposes contingent on payment of the purported/exposed assets
constituting the subject of recovery into the Federal Government Recovery
designated account.
“This account is maintained at the instance of the President
at the Central Bank of Nigeria and the details of the account are contained in
the engagement letter.
“The agreed remuneration shall become due and payable to the
whistle-blower within thirty (30) days of the receipt of the recovered/looted
funds by the Federal Government of Nigeria and payment shall be made to the
designated/nominated account provided in writing by the whistle-blower’’.
Malami advised whistleblowers who feel aggrieved about the
recovery process to lodge a complaint with relevant government institutions for
investigation.
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