Malami: We don’t reward whistleblowers until the stolen funds are recovered

Abubakar Malami, the attorney-general of the federation (AGF) and minister of justice, says whistleblowers are not rewarded until the stolen funds exposed or traced are recovered and lodged with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The whistleblower policy, an anti-corruption programme launched in 2016, encourages individuals to report cases of financial mismanagement or stolen funds.

One John Okupurhe had reportedly accused President Muhammadu Buhari and the AGF of refusing to pay him commission after exposing over $1 billion hidden in Unity Bank Plc.

Okupurhe had alleged that upon discovery of the money, he informed the office of the AGF of the in line with the whistleblower policy, and that an agreement was signed.

But reacting, Malami, through Umar Gwandu, his spokesperson, said whistleblowers are not paid for simply exposing stolen funds. 

“The office of the attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice wants to make it categorically clear that one does not get payment on account of exposing looted assets, but on successful recovery and lodgement of same into the designated assets recovery account at the Central Bank of Nigeria,” he said.

He said the procedures for engaging a whistleblower include, “a proposal submitted to the office of the attorney-general of the federation, a letter of engagement is issued to a whistleblower or recovery agent where the disclosure is assessed to have some prospects of success”.

“The recovery agent or whistleblower is expected to notify in writing the acceptance of the engagement,” he said.

“The recovery agent or whistleblower is expected, upon acceptance, to not only trace the assets but recover the same and have it deposited in a designated asset recovery account maintained by the federal government in the Central Bank which is usually provided to the recovery agent in writing.”

“It is the satisfaction of the above elements that entitles the whistleblower or a recovery agent to a claim of the success fee and the payment is usually effected by the federal ministry of finance and not the office of the attorney-general of the federation.” 

He said the role of the office of the AGF is that of processing the above-listed documents to the ministry of finance which is the ministry saddled with the responsibility of effecting payment.

He said the whistleblowing policy is about establishing that the funds in the account are looted assets or illegitimately warehoused and following that up with actual recovery and lodgement of the funds in the designated asset recovery account through judicial and extrajudicial means.

“Entitlement to recovery fees is for all intent and purposes contingent on lodgement of the purported/exposed assets constituting the subject of recovery into the federal government recovery designated account,” he said.

“This account is maintained at the instance of the president at the Central Bank of Nigeria and the details of the account are contained in the engagement letter.”

The agreed remuneration, he said shall become due and payable to the whistleblower within 30 days of the receipt of the recovered looted funds by the federal government and payment shall be made to the designated account provided in writing by the whistleblower.

Malami added that if the whistleblower feels strongly about any wrongdoing, he could consider a judicial redress as an alternative.