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| Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami |
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami yesterday announced that the Federal Government had recovered $85million from the United Kingdom (UK) out of what is due to government in the controversial Malabu oil deal.
He said: “I am also pleased to inform that Nigeria has just recovered the sum of $85million on the Malabu funds from UK.”
But he gave no detail.
Malami spoke at the Agenda for Pre-Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) Consultative Meeting organised by the Mac Arthur Foundation and the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) in Abuja.
Malami also added that the Federal Government was concluding negotiations with Switzerland on the return of $331million recovered from the family of the former Head of State, the late General Sani Abacha.
According to him, Civil Society Organisations will be involved in the monitoring of the utilisation of the funds.
He stressed that with the conclusion of the negotiation, the countries involved are to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the repatriation of the funds in the next few weeks.
The minister said: “We are indeed concluding negotiation with Switzerland on the return of $331million recovered from the late Abacha’s family. I am pleased to inform that Civil Society Organisations were involved in the negotiation of the Memorandum of Understanding.
“Most importantly, the Civil Society Organisations will be involved in monitoring the use of funds. With the conclusion of negotiation, parties are to sign a Memorandum of Understanding at the global forum at Asset Recovery meeting and repatriation all follow within weeks as agreed by the parties. “
Malami recalled that Nigeria had implemented the United Nations Convention Against Corruption requirement through the development of National Strategy on Anti-Corruption.
The National Strategy on Anti-Corruption, according to Malami, was adopted by Nigeria and has been approved by the Federal Executive Council in July this year, which the President is expected to launch in due course.
The Malabu matter
OPL 245, otherwise known as Malabu, involved about nine billion barrels of crude oil.
It is considered as one of the most lucrative.
OPL 245 was awarded to Malabu at a time the owners were Chief Dan Etete, then Minister of Petroleum Resources, who approved the licence, and Mohammed, son of the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.
In the deal consummated in 2011, only $210 million of the $1.3 billion paid by Shell and Eni for the block went into Federal Government coffers as “signature bonus”.
The rest was paid to Malabu Oil and Gas, mainly owned by Etete. The sale to Malabu was nullified by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 and assigned to Shell — without a public bid.
Ownership was reverted to Malabu thereafter, leading to a legal action by Shell, which later resorted to negotiating directly with Etete after former President Goodluck Jonathan assumed office in 2010.
A year later, a $1.3 billion deal was struck, with Malabu getting $1.1 billion from Shell and Eni to its transfer ownership. The signature bonus was paid to Nigeria.
