From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, has said he has no knowledge of alleged illegal sale of 48million barrels of crude oil, which allegedly resulted to $2.4 billion revenue loss.
Malami stated this when he appeared before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee probing alleged $2.4bilion loss from illegal sale of 48million barrels of crude oil export, in 2015. He stated that there was no document before him from either whistler blower, the parliament or the federal government on the subject matter.
However, the AGF said his panel and his office could collaborate in the investigation, on the basis the ad-hoc committee makes available to his office the documents, at its disposal, on the subject matter.
“No documents was made available to me relating to this. I am talking about a document made available by the whistleblower or the one made available by the system. Even when I am invited by this committee, not a single document was made available to me for consideration.
“At no point in time was I ever a member of any formal committee. Not a single document was forwarded to me for my consideration and capacity as the Attorney General for the purpose of establishing a case relating to $2.4 billion alleged revenue loss
“In the absence of facts, in the absence of documents being presented for my consideration by the National Assembly, in the absence of documents being presented to me by the executive for consideration, in the absence of my participation in any subject matter of investigation, it is not out of place for me to conclude that there is no justifiable, reasonable ground basis for such consideration.”
The AGF added that “any investigation that has the capacity of bringing one dollar to Nigeria I will be a party to it. I will support it , under my watch, the attorney general office has succeeded in recovering over one billion dollars to the Nigerian state overtime.
“We have submitted documents you requested. If there need for further engagement, with regards to the documents you claim to have at your disposal my suggestion is for us to review what’s presented on my part and yours.”
Malami admonished the panel to write to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to avail it of “assets recovery account generally maintained by the Federal Government.
According to him, “the only thing available at the disposable of the office of Attorney General is, perhaps, the confirmation of receipts, by a recovery agent issued to us by CBN. It’s not within the AGF office to be a custodian of account.”