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By Myke Agunwa
Former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN), has described as baseless, illogical and devoid of substance, allegations of abuse of office and money laundering levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the recovery of $322.5 million in Abacha loot.
According to him, “This allegation collapses immediately when subjected to facts and elementary logic. The facts, mostly documented, were referred to in my response to the interrogatories raised by the commission”.
Malami was invited by the EFCC on November 28, 2025, to answer questions regarding an alleged duplication in the recovery of the $310 million Abacha loot, which had accrued to about $322.5 million by the time it was repatriated.
In a statement released through his media aide, Mohammed Bello Doka, on Monday, Malami dismissed the The EFCC’s position that upon my assumption of office as AGF in 2015, “the recovery of the said funds had allegedly already been completed by a Swiss lawyer, Mr. Enrico Monfrini. On that basis, it is alleged that I merely duplicated an already concluded recovery process in order to introduce other lawyers who would, in turn, give me kickbacks”.
Highlighted some of the absurdity in the allegations, he continued, “It is trite to state from the onset that Recovery of illicit funds can legally be said to have been completed upon the actual lodgement of recovered funds into the Federation Account.
“As at 2016, when the Buhari administration initiated the process relating to the said $310 million (later $322.5 million with interest), there was no lodgment of any such funds into the Federation Account. There was therefore no completed recovery in existence, and nothing whatsoever to duplicate.
“More instructive and revealing is the undisputed fact that in December 2016, several lawyers applied to be engaged for the recovery of these same funds — Mr. Monfrini himself included. It is entirely illogical for a lawyer to apply in December 2016 to be engaged to recover funds he purportedly recovered two years earlier. That singular fact exposes the internal contradiction and absurdity of the EFCC’s narrative.
“In his application, Mr. Monfrini demanded for upfront on account deposit of $5 million and a success fee of 40percent of the recovered sum, which reconsideration was unilaterally reduced to 20% upon realizing the impossibility of the 40% demand flying. These terms were rightly rejected in line with the clear policy of the Buhari administration that no “on account” deposits would be paid to recovery agents and that success fees must not exceed 5 percent of recovered assets”.
The former AGF went further to state how much the country saved by going through due process in awarding the repatriation contract.
“At an average exchange rate of ₦1,600 to the dollar, a 15 percent saving on $320 million amounts to approximately ₦76.8 billion, while a 35 percent saving translates to about ₦179.2 billion. These are concrete, measurable benefits to the Nigerian state.
“For avoidance of doubt, there were distinct tranches of Abacha loot recovered by Malami as Attorney General of the federation, namely:
“The $322.5 million repatriated from Switzerland in 2017–2018 was deployed through the National Social Investment Programme, specifically Conditional Cash Transfers to the poorest Nigerians, which deployment was monitored by the world bank and civil society organizations out of commitment of the Buhari’s Government to entrench transparency and accountability” he said.
According to the statement, Malami was again instrumental to the recovery of another trench of about $321 million repatriated in 2020 from the Island of Jersey, with United States and Swiss involvement, that was earmarked for major infrastructure projects including the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, Abuja–Kano Road and the Second Niger Bridge, under project-based monitoring arrangements.
It added that any attempt to conflate these distinct recoveries or to portray a lawful, cost-saving recovery process as duplication is misleading.