Former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has dismissed allegations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accusing him of duplicating the recovery of the $310 million Abacha loot, describing the claims as “baseless, illogical and wholly devoid of substance.”
In a formal statement issued by his media aide, Mohammed Bello Doka, Malami confirmed that he was invited by the EFCC on November 28, 2025, to respond to questions surrounding an alleged duplication of recovered funds, which had risen to $322.5 million with accrued interest by the time it was repatriated during his tenure.
According to Malami, the EFCC raised two major allegations , abuse of office and money laundering , claims he insists have no factual or legal foundation.
He said the commission’s premise was that Swiss lawyer Enrico Monfrini had already completed the recovery before he assumed office in 2015, and that any subsequent effort amounted to a duplication intended to introduce other lawyers who would allegedly provide kickbacks.
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Malami described the claim as inconsistent with documented facts, insisting that no funds had been deposited into the Federation Account as of 2016, when the Buhari administration began the recovery process.
“It is trite to state that recovery can legally be said to have been completed only upon the actual lodgement of funds into the Federation Account. As at 2016, no such lodgement existed. There was therefore no completed recovery and nothing to duplicate,” he said.
He further disclosed that several lawyers, including Monfrini himself, applied in December 2016 to be engaged for the same recovery — an action he said contradicts the EFCC’s narrative that the Swiss lawyer had concluded the work two years earlier.
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Malami also revealed that Monfrini demanded a $5 million upfront payment and a 40 percent success fee, later reduced to 20 percent, terms the Buhari administration rejected in line with its policy of disallowing advance payments and capping success fees at 5 percent.
A Nigerian law firm was eventually engaged on a “transparent, all-inclusive 5 percent success fee basis,” which Malami said saved the country between 15 and 35 percent of the recovered funds, amounting to between ₦76.8 billion and ₦179.2 billion at an average exchange rate of ₦1,600 to the dollar.
According to him, the recoveries undertaken during his tenure were distinct and properly deployed. He listed the tranches recovered, including:
$322.5 million repatriated from Switzerland in 2017–2018, which was channelled through the National Social Investment Programme for Conditional Cash Transfers, monitored by the World Bank and civil society groups;
About $321 million recovered from Jersey in 2020, earmarked for major infrastructure projects such as the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, Abuja–Kano Road and the Second Niger Bridge.
Malami argued that any attempt to conflate these recoveries or suggest wrongdoing ignores documented evidence and established procedure.
He thanked supporters across the country for their “unwavering confidence,” describing the allegations as a political witch-hunt.
“In conclusion, 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 stated.
