Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has clarified that his recent interaction with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) focused solely on the recovery of the late General Sani Abacha’s funds and was not related to terrorism.
In a statement released by his media office on Wednesday, Malami dismissed circulating claims linking him to terrorism financing, money laundering, or having multiple bank accounts as “false, misleading and baseless.”
He emphasized, “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 only to address concerns over an alleged duplication in the recovery of the $310 million Abacha loot recovered during the administration of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“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.
He noted that while the EFCC reviewed assumptions of abuse of office and money laundering, no grounds were found 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,” Malami said, citing Swiss lawyer Enrico Monfrini’s 2016 request for re-engagement as evidence that the earlier recovery process had not concluded.
Malami also highlighted that the Buhari administration rejected Monfrini’s proposed $5 million upfront fee and a success fee of up to 40 percent, opting instead for Nigerian lawyers at a capped 5 percent 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 used for 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 described attempts to portray the recoveries as duplicated as “deliberately misleading,” noting that reports citing a retired military officer accusing him of terrorism financing were “sensational reporting.” He added that the officer had publicly clarified that no such accusation was made.
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.”
