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FG returns £4.2m Ibori loot to Delta State

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Court grants suspended Accountant General bail over N109.4bn fraud

 

The Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, has revealed that the £4.2 million Ibori loot just returned to Nigeria by Britain has been paid to Delta State government.

The money laundered to Britain by the former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, who was governor between 1999 and 2007, was seized from the former governor by the British government, following investigation, trial and subsequent conviction in Britain.

Ibori had evaded arrest in Nigeria, following intense manhunt by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which had been on his trail on allegation of corruption. He escaped to Dubai, United Arab Emirates in 2010 but was eventually arrested in Dubai and extradited to the United Kingdom with the cooperation of the Nigerian government.

Besides, the AGF, pleaded with the House to make the Treasury Single Account legal and constitutional, for it to be more effective, as the Attorney General of Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), rejected claims by the House Panel, that he spent over N3billion from funds recovered graft funds.

The nation’s chief accountant disclosed the remittance of the funds which had become a subject of litigation between the Delta State Government and the Federal Government to the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on Assessment and Status of all Recovered Loots Movable and Immovable Assets from 2002-2020 by agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria for Effective Efficient Management and Utilization”, headed by Rep. Adejoro Adeogun (Ondo-APC).

READ: Malami rules out sharing £4.2m Ibori loot with Delta

He was responding to questions from the legislators on the difference between the Federation and Consolidated Revenue Fund Accounts of the Federation, and the desegregation of Recovered Assets and funds.

“All agencies’ revenues, go into the Treasury Single Account, but the TSA, does not apply to the Federation Account. And it depends on the nature of recoveries. Some recoveries are for state governments and when they come, we send them to the state governments, including the Ibori loot. The recovery of the Ibori Loot, was paid to Delta State. The states will not allow their monies to be taken; they will take us to court, and we don’t joke with that,” the Accountant General disclosed.

Pressed by lawmakers on the need for the TSA, given that section 162 of the 1999 Constitution says all revenue of government, must go into the Consolidated Revenue Fund, for appropriation by the National Assembly, the Chief Treasurer of the Federal Government, agreed that the TSA was not captured in the constitution.

He however pleaded for an amendment in the document, to accommodate it and make it legal.

“TSA should be given legal teeth; going by the financial regulation and constitution, it’s not there. But with the advent of the TSA, everything is now linked together and centralised.

“But there is a need of an amendment of the law, but may be, we can talk about that later,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, in his submission to the House on recovered loots, denied spending N3 billion from the amounts recovered from looters.

READ: Controversy over Ibori recovered loot, House insists £6.2m not £4.2m

He said the amount was appropriated for by the National Assembly and duly released as fees for advocates, by the Ministry of Finance.

The Committee of the House had accused him of deducting N3 billion from recovered loot on 20th February, 2017.

“I had a budgetary provision of N3 billion to fund certain critical activities, especially the backlog of solicitors’ fees; I don’t know where the money came from, but it was not from the Recovery Account.

“My responsibility, is to make request from the Ministry of Finance and not deduct from the source,” Malami said.

Both officials, Vanguard reports, however didn’t provide information on the amount recovered within the timeframe investigated by the House.

The Committee gave the Accountant General two days, within which to furnish the House with details of the recoveries from 2002-2020.

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