‘EFCC Interview Only About Abacha Loot, Not Terrorism’, Ex-AGF Malami Clarifies

Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has clarified that his interaction with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was strictly limited to addressing concerns over alleged duplication in the recovery of late former Head of State, General Sani Abacha’s loot, and not related to terrorism.

In a statement issued by his media office on Wednesday, Malami, dismissed circulating claims linking him to terrorism financing, money laundering, or multiple bank accounts as “false, misleading and baseless.”

He stressed that “no security, intelligence or law-enforcement agency in Nigeria or abroad has ever accused, investigated or questioned me over terrorism financing or multiple bank accounts.”

Malami explained that the EFCC invited him solely to clarify issues surrounding the $310 million Abacha loot recovered during the late former President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

“My engagement with the EFCC was strictly limited to addressing concerns about an alleged duplication of the recovery process. That was the only issue they sought clarification on,” he added.

According to Malami, the EFCC reviewed assumptions of abuse of office and money laundering but found no grounds to proceed after he provided detailed explanations.

“I comprehensively demonstrated to the EFCC that no duplication occurred because the funds were not lodged into the Federation Account before 2016. There was no completed recovery at the time,” he said, citing Swiss lawyer Enrico Monfrini’s 2016 request for re-engagement as evidence that the earlier recovery process had not concluded.

He noted that the Buhari administration had rejected Monfrini’s proposed $5 million upfront fee and a success fee of up to 40 per cent, opting instead for Nigerian lawyers at a capped 5 per cent cost, saving the country billions of naira.

Different tranches of the Abacha loot, he explained, were recovered at separate times: $322.5 million from Switzerland between 2017 and 2018 was deployed to the National Social Investment Programme under World Bank monitoring, while $321 million repatriated from Jersey in 2020 funded major infrastructure projects including the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, Abuja–Kano Road, and the Second Niger Bridge.

Malami argued that attempts to portray the recoveries as duplicated were “deliberately misleading,” calling reports citing a retired military officer who allegedly accused him of terrorism financing “sensational reporting.”

The officer, he noted, had publicly clarified that he never made such an accusation.

Reiterating his role in Nigeria’s anti-corruption and anti-terror financing framework, Malami highlighted his contributions to establishing the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit and advancing the 2022 AML/CFT laws that helped Nigeria exit the FATF grey list.

He urged Nigerians to ignore what he described as a coordinated smear campaign, stating, “I remain confident that truth will prevail over political witch-hunt, misinformation and intimidation.”