Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has rejected the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) claims that he duplicated the recovery of the $310 million Abacha loot, calling the allegations “baseless, illogical and entirely without merit.” In a statement released by his media aide, Mohammed Bello Doka, Malami confirmed that he appeared before the EFCC on November 28, 2025, to answer questions regarding an alleged duplication of recovered funds, which had grown to $322.5 million with accrued interest by the time they were repatriated during his tenure. Malami described the EFCC’s accusations of abuse of office and money laundering as unfounded. The commission had claimed that Swiss lawyer Enrico Monfrini completed the recovery before Malami assumed office in 2015, and that any subsequent efforts were unnecessary and intended to benefit other lawyers through kickbacks. He countered that no funds had been lodged into the Federation Account by 2016, when the Buhari administration formally pursued the recovery. “Recovery can only be legally considered complete upon the actual lodgement of funds into the Federation Account. As of 2016, no such lodgement existed. Therefore, there was no completed recovery and nothing to duplicate,” Malami said. Malami further noted that several lawyers, including Monfrini, applied in December 2016 to be engaged for the same recovery, contradicting the EFCC’s narrative. He also revealed that Monfrini had demanded a $5 million upfront payment and a 40 percent success fee, later reduced to 20 percent, which the Buhari administration rejected. Instead, a Nigerian law firm was engaged on a 5 percent success fee basis, saving the country an estimated ₦76.8 billion to ₦179.2 billion. He detailed the recoveries made during his tenure, including: $322.5 million repatriated from Switzerland in 2017–2018, channelled through the National Social Investment Programme for Conditional Cash Transfers and monitored by the World Bank and civil society groups. Approximately $321 million recovered from Jersey in 2020, allocated for infrastructure projects such as the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, Abuja–Kano Road, and the Second Niger Bridge. Malami insisted that any suggestion of wrongdoing ignores documented procedures and established facts. He described the allegations as politically motivated and expressed gratitude to his supporters for their “unwavering confidence.” “The allegations of money laundering and abuse of office concerning the $322.5 million Abacha loot remain baseless, illogical and entirely devoid of substance. I remain confident that truth, law and reason will ultimately prevail,” he said.
