SAN FRANCISCO, January 26, (THEWILL) – The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN) has revealed that a total sum of N18.1billion was recovered from looters by his Ministry in 2016.
He made this known in Abuja while playing host to members of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, who visited the Federal Ministry of Justice in line with their oversight function.
Malami was however silent on the individuals and institutions from who the money was recovered, saying efforts were on to recover more this year.
“We have made progress in the recovery of looted funds. Last year, over N15billion and $10.5m were recovered,” Malami said.
He however said the Federal Government’s efforts to effectively prosecute the anti-corruption war and recover more looted funds were being hampered by the legislature’s delay in the passage of relevant bills such as the Proceeds of Crime Act and the need for autonomy for the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
“The absence of these important laws is a reason why the country has not been admitted as a member of the Financial Action Task force,” he said.
The Minister also gave details of his Ministry implementation of last year’s Appropriation Act, saying of the N3, 921,612,815 allocated to the Ministry in last year’s budget, N3, 723,833,877 has so far been released, from which it has expended N3, 672,730,661.16 as at December 31, 2016 on personnel and non-regular allowances.
Senator David Umar, Senate Committee’s Chairman, assured the Minister of the committee’s willingness to assist the ministry adding that works were ongoing to pass the bills mentioned by the Minister.
