EXCLUSIVE: Magu’s FULL RESPONSE to Malami’s allegations against him
Ibrahim Magu, has denied that he fraudulently enriched himself by diverting and mismanaging proceeds of recovered assets.
Mr Malami had announced Mr Magu’s suspension following President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval. Prior to his suspension he was arrested and brought before a probe panel headed by Ayo Salami, a former president of the Court of Appeal. “Sir, even when cash is recovered during execution of search warrant, such funds are meticulously counted, kept in the safe custody of the Exhibit Keeper and lodged in the recovery account.”
“This demonstrates the falsity of the accusation of the diversion of forfeited assets wrongly levelled against me,” he argued. 3.4 There has been no mismanagement of and lack of transparency in the management of recovered assets under my leadership of the Commission.3.6 The EFCC has in a timely and exemplary fashion responded to information and documents whenever required, not just in the Paris Club Refund investigations, but in respect of other investigations.
7. Sir, I have gone through the petition upon the service of same on me and I found that the allegations contained therein are in 6 folds. I wish to respond to each and every one of these allegations as follows: It is the international best practices in audit to have an entry and exit meeting. During the exiting meeting, parties are expected to thoroughly review and reconcile documents/data to enable the auditee to present necessary explanations to clear any grey area.
I am not a signatory to these accounts and the funds therein. I have never approved withdrawal from any of the Commission’s recovery accounts for my personal benefit. The purported under-reported sum of N39, 357,608,119.43 was admitted by the Petitioner to have been lodged in the recovery account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria which is not under my total dominion and control. This demonstrates the falsity of the accusation of diversion of forfeited assets wrongly levelled against me.
On the issue of MT GOOD SUCCESS. MT DERBY and MV THAMES referred to in the Petition. I also know as a fact and verily believe that: Furthermore, in a bid to ensure that the FGN took the economic benefit of the MT Good Success and in demonstrating my total commitment for accountability and transparency in the process of disposition of the forfeited asset, the Commission under my leadership wrote a letter to the Honorable Attorney-General Federation reference number EFCC/SC/JUS/07/101 dated 24/03/16 titled “NOTIFICATION TO DISPOSE” of MT GOOD SUCCESS, recommending the disposal of the vessel and the processes to be adopted.
The report of the meeting was conveyed through a memo dated 19th December 2016 wherein it was recommended that all vessels in the custody of the Navy listed in the memo including MT Good Success should be salvaged, evacuated and disposed of, if possible. The said memo is hereby attached as Annexure 8.
Ii. Whilst the Commission was taking assiduous steps towards enforcing the order of his Lordship, the HAGF commenced a fresh process for the disposal of the vessels mentioned above. In so doing, the HAGF did not respond to the letter written to him by the former Secretary to the Commission recommending the disposal of MT Good Success.
Vii The attachment to the above letter revealed that MT GOOD SUCCESS, MT DERBY & MT THAMES were among the one hundred and thirty six forfeited vessels. These are the vessels for which I am now being accused of mismanaging despite the engagement of a private legal firm by the HAGF to forfeit and dispose them.
The aforesaid law firm of SANI & CO wrote a similar petition to the Bureau of Public Procurement against the Commission and the HAGF for undertaking double disposal process of the same assets. The Commission was invited to BPP to respond to the allegation That in relation to the ALLEGATION contained in paragraph of the petition I also know as a fact and verily believe that:
That contrary to the allegations in paragraph B6) I know as a fact and verily believe that Mr President forwarded the draft Proceeds of Crime Bill to the Commission, as well as other Anti Corruption Agencies, such as the Nigerian Police Force, ICPC, NDLEA, NAPTIP and the Nigerian Customs Service. Attached and marked as Annexure 18 is the letter from the Chief of Staff to the President forwarding the Proceeds of Crime Bill, 2019 to the Commission for review, comments and remarks.
Mr President declined assent to the Proceeds of Crime Bill, 2019 in the overriding interest of the nation and the need to sustain the tempo of the achievements this administration is recording in the fight against corruption. The recommendations of the Commission to Mr President on the Bill was not tainted with any falsehood, rather it was honest, professional, courageous and a patriotic position. Other than the corporate position of the Commission which was transmitted to Mr President.
vi. Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 conferred on the Commission the responsibility of tracing and forfeiting abandoned properties and properties reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities, Considering the negative impact section 162 of Proceeds of Crime Bill, 2019 will have on the tracing and recovery of proceeds of crimes in Nigeria, Mr President in his wisdom declined assent to the Bill.
It was further alleged that I maintained different accounts including using proxies who return the benefit of the sold assets to me and that the proceeds of the purported sales were used to acquire properties in the name of my proxies.1.
a. Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management of which the valued price is to be debited from their allocation.d. Federal Inland Revenue Service .• Real properties finally forfeited to the FGN and allocated to some Agencies for official use in line with the Presidential approval are:c. Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management.
On the 11th of January, 2010 P&ID Ltd of BVI signed a Gas Supply and Processing Agreement with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources as a follow up to the MOU. I have also ensured that criminal charges were filed against Ms Grace Taiga. the then Director Legal Services of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and Mr James Nolan, the in-country manager of P&ID Limited of BVI. Furthermore, a warrant of arrest has been obtained against Brendan Cahill, the key personality currently behind P&ID Limited of BVI. In addition, criminal charges for economic crimes have been finalized against eight other associate companies of P&ID Limited.
With the concurrence of the HAGF, the said documents were forwarded to the INTERPOL, through Government’s delegation comprising of representatives of Nigerian Police Force, CBN and the Commission. I also forwarded another updated report to the HAGF via a letter dated the 21st of May, 2019. Attached and Marked Annexure 23 is a copy of the said letter.
Contrary to the conclusion of the HAGF, the two reports forwarded to him were substantially in agreement and only differ on additional findings premised on new discoveries in the latter report. Notwithstanding the position of the law, and the powers statutorily conferred on the Commission to institute criminal proceedings, I have constantly briefed the HAGF in respect of our activities. Apart from my direct briefings, I also appointed a Liaison Officer to coordinate the official relationship between the Commission and the Federal Ministry of Justice.
. Stanley Lawson brought the sum of US$21,980,000 which sum was delivered to Martins Izuogbe of Fidelity Bank at Sofitel Hotel Ikoyi. Lagos. That out of the US$65,000,000 received by Dauda Lawal, the sum of US$25,000,000 was later converted to the sum of N5.050,000,000 and transferred from First Bank Nigeria Plc to Sterling Bank for the acquisition of a five-star hotel called the Ogeyi Place Le-Meridian Hotel situated at Tombia Street, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
As a result of this decision the charge was amended on the 14th of November, 2019. Attached as Annexure 27 is a copy of the amended charge sheet and the record of proceedings where the prosecution stated the reasons for the amendment of the charge. 2. The HAGF has not cited a particular case or instance where it is conclusively shown or proved that I have committed the alleged breach.
2. It is also not true that the National Crime Agency has refused to share information with the Commission. The NCA still shares critical information with the Commission and conducts joint operations with the Commission under the Combined Inter-Agency Task Force and also directly. Classified documents in this regard can be produced for sighting on request and with the consent of the NCA.
6. The HAGF also alleged that the NCA reported that I compromised the investigation of a British Nigerian, one Mr Livister Mbaeri. I state categorically that this is utter falsehood. I7. I will also state on record that the Commission, under my leadership.
The Commission, in the course of performing its statutory duties and functions, discovered that one Sebore Farms & Extension Services Limited which received and retained various proceeds of unlawful activities has Honorable Justice Binta Nyako as one of its Directors. Currently, the company is standing trial alongside Admiral Murtala Nyako in criminal charge no. FHC/ABJ/293/2015 between the FRN v. 50 Murtala H. Nyanko & 8 Ors pending before the Honourable Justice E.O. Abang.
The pronouncement of my lord Justice Binta Nyako as quoted above is extremely prejudicial to criminal Charge no. FHCIABJ/CR/268/2016, between FRN v. Malabu Oil and Gas Limited & 7 Ors and Charge no. FHC/AB/CR/39/2017 between FRN v. Mohammed Bello Adoke & Anor filed by the Commission and was subsequently assigned to his Lordship, Hon. Justice Binta Nyako.
MY RESPONSE: Sir, permit to state that I am not privy to any allegations contained in the petitions purportedly received by the HAGF against me. However, I know as a fact and verily believed that:
Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Malabu: We’re expecting $200m refund from Netherlands, Switzerland — AGFThe Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on Tuesday said the ministry recovered $200m from the Malabu OPL 245 oil deal, N685.7m and N500m forfeited funds. Read more:
Read more »
Netherlands, Switzerland to repatriate $200m Malabu deal cash –AGFNigeria is awaiting the return of $200m from the Netherlands and Switzerland from the Oil Prospecting Licence 245 deal, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Mala...
Read more »
Adoke attacks Malami, gives AGF ultimatum to retract 'false evidence' about himMr Adoke asks Mr Malami to tender public apology and pay damages for making defamatory statements about him.
Read more »