As
the fight against corruption by the President Buhari-led federal government
intensifies, a new development has emerged as the presidency has revealed some
difficulties in recovering some loots from former government officials.
Lack
of funds is stalling Nigeria’s effort to trace and recover its stolen monies,
and prosecute former government officials responsible for the heist, the
presidency has said.
A
letter by the Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption (PACC) to a United
Kingdom-based anti-corruption organisation, Global Witness, soliciting
assistance in raising funds, revealed that due to the fall in crude oil prices
and the general economic downturn, the government lacked the needed funds to
pursue recovery of loots.
The
letter, dated February 15, 2016, was signed by the Executive Secretary of PACC,
Bolaji Owasanoye, and directed to the Director of Global Witness, Simon Taylor.
It
stated that the commitment of the government to tackle Boko Haram insurgency,
fight corruption and improve the livelihood of Nigerians through job creation,
was being hampered by dwindling oil revenue and mounting debts.
Mr.
Owasanoye, a professor, argued that the economy could not be revived simply by
improving revenue generation, without wiping out corruption and recovering
money stolen by former officials.
He
said ongoing investigations into the diversion of arms funds by the former
National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, and ex-military chiefs, show
that significant amount of the money needed by the government to alleviate
poverty were still in “the pockets and bank accounts of looters of public
funds”.
He
said intelligence reports and court rulings elsewhere have shown that there
were more funds to be recovered from the immediate past Petroleum Minister,
Diezani Alison-Madueke, the fraudulent sale of OPL 245 by Malabu Oil and Gas, a
company owned by “a well-known money launderer”, Dan Etete, assets traced to
former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, and former military ruler, Sani
Abacha.
He
however explained that due to the multi-jurisdiction of the cases, and the
exorbitant charges of professionals such as lawyers, forensic financial
investigators, and the ability of the suspected officials to use part of the
alleged stolen fund to challenge the recovery of the fund, the government
needed huge flow of resources.
“However,
this poses a major problem. An empty treasury means that the money is not
currently available for the government to engage these professionals due to the
high fee that they charge.
“Even
in cases where service will be given on contingency basis the initial seed fund
required to start the process is not affordable. As a result, the action the
government urgently seeks to take is being stymied,” Mr. Owasanoye wrote.
He
argued that the government’s capacity to pursue all potential cases would be
greatly boosted by the creation of an Assets Tracing, Recovery and Litigation
Fund from which lawyers, investigators and forensic auditors will be paid.
He
added that the government was also working on an arrangement where
professionals engaged would be paid only on successes recorded.
“Once
engaged, government can negotiate with the professionals to earn only success
fees. Each professional engaged will secure its own litigation funders to
support their briefs,” he stated.
Mr.
Owasanoye further revealed that government would not have got as much traction
as it does in its drive to prosecute ex-officials, and in the recovery of
funds, if it had not received a combined financial lifeline of $5 million from
international organisations such as the Ford foundation, MacArthur Foundation
and the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
“This
fund is supporting the mandate of the Presidency Advisory Committee on
Corruption which is co-ordinating the anti-corruption effort of the government
and promoting improved criminal justice administration.
“In
light of the very dire economic situation of the moment this support and the
proposed Assets Tracing, Recovery and Litigation Fund, is crucial to government
ability to get recovery assets to support social welfare projects for the
impoverished majority of Nigerians.
“Furthermore,
funding support will enable government to use money that would have otherwise
gone to professionals for assets recovery for other social protection
projects,” he wrote.
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