The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) on Tuesday explained why the 4.2 million pounds loot recovered from a former governor of Delta State James Ibori and his associates will not return to the coffers of the state.
Malami had, earlier on Tuesday with the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, announced the return of £4.2 million recovered from Mr. Ibori and his friends.
The money, expected to arrive in the country within two weeks, the Minister said are expected to be used for the construction of the second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kano road, and Lagos-Ibadan Express Way and not returned to the Delta State Government where it was pilfered from.
Speaking during an interview with Channels Television’s Politics Today, Malami argued that the law that was alleged to have been breached by Ibori was a federal law and that the parties of interests involved in the repatriation of the funds were national and not sub-national governments.
According to him, “All the processes associated with the recovery were consummated by the federal government and the federal government is, indeed, the victim of the crime and not sub-national.”
When pressed on whether the British government had insisted that the money be spent on certain projects, Mr. Malami said it was not “a matter of insistence but a matter of negotiation between two sovereign states.”
