Malami Dismisses EFCC Accusations on Abacha Loot, Says Claims Lack Logic and Evidence
Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has firmly rejected allegations raised by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over purported duplication in the recovery of the $322.5 million Abacha loot, describing the claims as “baseless, illogical, and devoid of substance.”
In a detailed statement issued through his Media Assistant, Mohammed Bello Doka, Malami said he was invited by the EFCC on November 28, 2025, to respond to allegations of abuse of office and money laundering in connection with the recovery process of the looted funds.
Malami explained that the EFCC’s assumption—that Swiss lawyer, Enrico Monfrini, had completed recovery of the funds before he (Malami) assumed office in 2015—was factually incorrect and logically untenable.
According to him, a recovery process is considered complete only when funds are fully lodged into the Federation Account, which had not occurred as of 2016.
He further revealed that contrary to EFCC’s position, Mr. Monfrini applied again in December 2016 to be re-engaged for the same recovery—an action Malami said nullifies the narrative that the lawyer had concluded the job years earlier.
The former AGF also disclosed that Monfrini demanded a $5 million upfront deposit and a 40 percent success fee, later revised to 20 percent—terms that were rejected in line with Buhari administration’s strict policies prohibiting upfront payments and capping success fees at 5 percent.
A Nigerian law firm was later engaged to execute the recovery at an all-inclusive 5 percent fee, which Malami said saved the country between 15 percent and 35 percent of the recovered amount—amounting to between ₦76.8 billion and ₦179.2 billion at an average exchange rate of ₦1,600 per dollar.
Malami emphasized that the $322.5 million repatriated from Switzerland between 2017 and 2018 was channelled into the National Social Investment Programme’s Conditional Cash Transfer scheme under World Bank-supervised monitoring.
He added that another tranche of about $321 million, recovered in 2020 from Jersey, was designated for major infrastructure projects including the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, Abuja–Kano Road and the Second Niger Bridge.
He warned against conflating the two separate recoveries, stating that doing so creates a misleading impression of duplication.
Expressing appreciation to supporters nationwide, Malami described the EFCC probe as an attempt at political intimidation but expressed confidence that “truth, law and reason will ultimately prevail.”
