The Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Abubakar Malami, allegedly paid $200 million as consulting fees in whistleblower recoveries within statutory approvals, according to the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil totaling more than $2.4 billion and crude oil export to China from 2014 to date.
The summons was given at a public hearing on Wednesday by Mark Gbillah, the head of the committee looking into the alleged loss of $2.4 billion in revenue from the unlawful sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil.
He said: “We have not been getting any form of cooperation from the Ministry of Finance and Attorney General’s office regarding this investigation, despite a series of correspondents sent to them on this matter we are investigating.
Additionally, he claimed that payments to whistleblowers that did not follow the policy’s requirements were approved by the minister of finance.
The pair, however, avoided the committee and skipped the meeting.
The committee’s chairman stated in a new invitation to the ministers on Wednesday that a tip-off to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) revealed that Malami had authorized the payment of $200 million to two private businesses, Biz Plus and GSCL, for “consultancy services.”
”We’ve seen documentation from the Accountant General’s office, where the minister of finance approved the payment of the substantial amount of money to so-called whistle-blowers where details of monies recovered were not provided.
“’We’ve heard media reports by the Federal Government indicating that millions of dollars were recovered through whistle-blower revelations on behalf of the country, but we as a parliament have not seen that those monies were routed through the constitutional appropriation process before they were expended. The constitution is very clear about the receipt and expenditure of Nigeria’s money.”
The house established the ad hoc committee in December 2022 to look into allegations made by a whistleblower that 48 million barrels of Bonny light petroleum were exported illegally to China in 2015.
The committee was also tasked with looking at all of Nigeria’s sales and exports of crude oil from 2014 to the present.
However, Gbillah appealed to the two public officers to cause an appearance before the committee or risk being arrested. He voiced his disgust with the activities of the two public officers.
According to Gbillah, ”In the event that they fail to do so, we will be constrained to invoke the instrument of the summons and all other necessary powers the National Assembly can exercise in this regard. “”But we want to make this a formal and final notice to those concerned, the minister of finance and Attorney General of the Federation, to cause appearance before the committee to give evidence with regards to the allegations that have been laid before the committee.”
Glamour Adah
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