Former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has dismissed EFCC allegations that he duplicated the recovery process of the $310 million Abacha loot—later $322.5 million with interest—calling the claims “baseless and illogical.”
In a statement signed by his media aide, Mohammed Doka, Malami confirmed that he honoured an EFCC invitation on November 28 over alleged abuse of office and money laundering, but said the accusations fell apart under scrutiny.
Malami argued that the EFCC’s claim—that a Swiss lawyer, Enrico Monfrini, had completed the recovery before he took office—was false, insisting no funds were lodged into the Federation Account as of 2016. He added that Monfrini even sought re-engagement in December 2016, which he said contradicted the EFCC’s narrative.
He revealed that Monfrini demanded a $5 million upfront payment and up to 40% success fee, terms rejected by the Buhari administration. Instead, a Nigerian firm was hired for a 5% fee, which Malami said saved the country up to ₦179.2 billion.
Malami also highlighted the separate tranches of Abacha loot recovered under his tenure:
– $322.5 million from Switzerland (2017–2018) used for Conditional Cash Transfers under World Bank supervision;
– $321 million from Jersey (2020) allocated to major infrastructure projects.
He maintained that the recoveries were lawful, transparent, and in the public interest, rejecting any claims of misconduct. Describing the probe as a political witch-hunt, Malami said he was confident the investigation would clear his name.
