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Still On The Recovered
Abacha Loot
Oladipo Okpeseyi and Temitope Adebayo , two
Nigerian lawyers hired for the return of $321
million Abacha loot from Switzerland, have
been secretly paid their controversial fees.
Although they were initially to be paid $17
million, it was cut by $2 million and paid
following pressure from a very popular Lagos-
based pastor who is a political associate of
President Muhammadu Buhari, TheCable
reports.
Adebayo, one of the beneficiaries, confirmed
the payment in a telephone interview with the
online news platform.
Hassan Dodo , director of information at the
ministry of finance, and Ahmed Idris,
accountant-general of the federation, did not
pick calls and were yet to respond to
messages seeking further information on this
development.
Igbonba IIâ„¢
@igbonba
Does this pastor have a name? Can it possibl
Pastor Tunde Bakare of Later Rain Assembly
because he alone have such influence on Buh
Isn't this relooting of recovered loot in disgui
proxy? Where's the Buharis' so-called integrit
all of this? Sigh!
2 13:49 - 5 Feb 2019
See Igbonba IIâ„¢'s other Tweets
Farooq Kperogi, Ph.D @faroo
It's difficult to keep up with th
corruption going on in this go
Loot: Despite outcry, FG secr
lawyers 'dubious' $15m fees
thecable.ng/?p=329288 via
Abacha Loot: Despite outcr
Oladipo Okpeseyi and Temi
thecable.ng
Presidency sources also said the pastor
mounted enormous pressure on the president,
claiming that the lawyers had spent “a lot of
money” in trying to get the Swiss authorities to
return the money to Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Naija News learnt that a freedom of
information (FOI) request has been sent to
Abubakar Malami, the attorney-general of the
Federation (AGF), requesting for the various
agreements that were signed with the Abacha
family, the Swiss lawyer and the Nigerian
solicitors by his office.
Instead of responding, Malami filed a libel suit.
DUBIOUS FEES
The online news platform also raised an alarm
on the duplication of legal fees in the recovery
of the $321 million from Switzerland.
Naija News , however, understands that the
federal government had engaged the services
of Enrico Monfrini, a Swiss lawyer, in 1999 to
help trace, identify, freeze and recover all
looted funds traced to Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s
military ruler from 1993 to 1998.
After seven years of work, including
investigations and litigation across various
countries, Monfrini had traced and recovered
$321 million from Luxembourg banks.
The funds were domiciled with the government
of Switzerland in 2014 pending a final request
for transfer from Nigeria. Monfrini and other
lawyers involved had also been paid their fees,
with the Swiss getting about $12 million.
However, Malami, rather than write directly to
the Swiss authorities to seek the transfer of
the funds to Nigeria, engaged Okpeseyi and
Adebayo for the purpose.
They have now been paid $15 million as
“professional fees” for writing the letter — more
than the Swiss lawyer who traced and
recovered the funds over a period of seven
years.
Okpeseyi and Adebayo were both members of
the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC),
the party founded by Buhari to contest in the
2011 presidential election.
Malami was the legal adviser to the party.
‘WE WORKED HARD FOR THE
MONEY’
In their defence, Okpeseyi and Adebayo said
they deserve their fees having “perused loads
of documents to ascertain the status of the
matters assigned to us”.
They also said they travelled to London to hold
meetings with lawyers familiar with the status
of the assets and to engage lawyers licensed
to practice in the jurisdictions covered by their
instructions.
According to them, they engaged the law firm
of BCCC attorneys-at-law to take steps
towards ensuring the repatriation of the
Luxembourg fund through a power of attorney.
Their attorneys travelled to the Canton of
Geneva and met with the Swiss authorities,
according to Okpeseyi and Adebayo.
Finally, the Nigerian lawyers wrote a letter to
the attorney general of Switzerland —
effectively the only thing required of the AGF
from the beginning — and the money was
returned to Nigeria.
They then asked to be paid 5 percent of the
repatriated loot as contained in the agreement
signed with the AGF.
The lawyer who did the actual recoveries
across various jurisdictions got 4 percent.
DUPLICATION OF WORK
In a series of interviews with TheCable,
Monfrini had maintained that the engagement
of new lawyers was needless as he already
completed the recovery job and all that was
left was for Malami was to “write a letter to
the Geneva attorney-general or the government
of Switzerland requesting the money to be paid
back to Nigeria.”
He added that such activity is not to be
developed by lawyers but only through
government-to-government communication.
Defending the payment, Adebayo had argued
that Monfrini didn’t complete the recovery job
because the money was still in Switzerland.
Kemi Adeosun , former minister of finance,
initially refused to approve the payment to the
lawyers – she, however, later came under
pressure to deny stopping it.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, TheCable
understands, had queried the request for
payment when he was acting president, asking
Malami to come and justify it.
However, the matter is now beyond him with
the intervention of the Lagos-based pastor.
ADEYEMI ORESANYA
@YemiOres
What of Minister for Trade and Investment? T
moment @ProfOsinbajo started his TraderM
campaign, the minister ought to have resigne
but just like Falz said, "This is Nigeria".
Nigeria received Abacha's loot, and all we ca
is to start sharing money?
2 21:58 - 4 Feb 2019
See ADEYEMI ORESANYA's other Tweet
ADEYEMI ORESANYA @Yemi
Replying to @YemiOres
What of the Minister of Sport,
functioning?
This life is not a do or die affa
you're given a portfolio and yo
beyond your intellectual capa
not just honourably.
Just a friendly advice.
THE FRUSTRATION
Cable Newspaper Journalism Foundation
(CNJF), a partner organisation with TheCable,
had sent an FOI request to the AGF, asking for
details of agreements between the federal
government and the Abachas which led to the
eventual withdrawal of the prosecution of
Mohammed Abacha; and why another lawyers
were appointed after Monfrini had completed
the recovery job.
The AGF’s office, the custodian of the FOI act,
received TheCable’s request on December 8,
2017, and is yet to respond more than a year –
as against the demands of the FOI act (2011)
that such request should be answered in seven
days of receipt.
CNJF had since been in court seeking an order
of mandamus compelling the AGF to make
available the information and documents
requested from its office pursuant to the FOI
act.
Describing the payment as “height of injustice,”
the house of representatives, in April 2018 also
set up an ad-hoc committee to carry out
“forensic investigation” on the issue to unravel
the circumstances surrounding the
controversial deal.
The AGF, however, has continually frustrated
the probe and many months after, the
lawmakers are yet to get headway.
BONARIO NNAGS
@bonario89
Same way Buhari resigned for spending
money without approval,
Same way Osinbajo resigned for
mismanaging the NEMA funds,
Same way Maikanti resigned for the issues
raised by Ibe Kachikwu,
Same way Malami resigned after trying to
corner the Abacha loot?
You can’t mask hypocrisy.
Dr. Aminu Gamawa @aminugamawa
One day our public office holders will
appreciate the importance of honor &
integrity. If you are accused of
committing an offense that you know
you have committed, no need for you to
wait till you are removed or convicted,
or delay the process. You should just
honorably RESIGN.
259 11:29 - 26 Jan 2019
397 people are talking about this
“Of course, the AGF is trying to frustrate the
investigation,” a source at the national assembly
had said .“From the look of things, they are not
happy with the committee. They are not happy
the committee was constituted,” he added.
“ Their report was not properly submitted,”
another source within the national assembly
said.
“ The submission was not addressed to the
chairman of the committee. It was a photocopied
document and didn’t carry the signature of the
AGF. Somebody just brought photocopied
documents and rushed out, saying he was in a
hurry. There is no how the committee can work
with such documents.
“When you are asked to bring something,
officially, by a constituted authority and you are
putting lackadaisical attitude towards that
request, it is like you are not happy with the
whole thing.”
In September 2018, acting on a tip-off that the
Nigerian lawyers were about to be paid, CNJF
wrote the ministry of finance, and in its response,
the ministry said it “does not have any
information regarding any payment made to the
solicitors”.