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YAkubu Galadima , the lawyer for the whistleblower , who informed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of the $ 43m , N23.2m and £ 27,800 ( N13bn ) recovered from an Ikoyi apartment , says his client will not accept anything below five per cent commission .
Galadima said this during a chat with one of our correspondents on Saturday .
The Secretary of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption , Prof . Bolaji Owasanoye , at an event on Thursday titled , ‘ Tracking Noxious Funds ’, which was organised by Kent University Law School and Human and Environmental Development Agency , had explained that any whistle-blower , who helped the government to recover anything above N1bn would receive less than five per cent commission . owasanoye , who was part of the team that drafted the whistle-blower policy had said , “ If you blow the whistle and the government recovers cash , you are entitled to between 2.5 per cent and five per cent . The maximum limit is five per cent .
“ According to the policy , if you blow the whistle and it is below N500m , you get four to five per cent because the higher the amount that is recovered , the lower the percentage that is given . This is the global best practice .
“ If the recovery is between N500m and N1bn , you get three to four per cent ( commission ). If it is N1bn and above , it is 2.5 per cent . Indeed , there is a clause that we included in the policy to say that the government may determine the amount to be awarded based on other criteria provided that the amount to be awarded doesn ’ t exceed five per cent . In other words , the government may actually pay less than 2.5 per cent but nobody can be paid more than five per cent .”
However , the Ikoyi whistle-blower ’ s lawyer told SUNDAY PUNCH on Saturday that his client would not accept anything less than five per cent .
When asked if his client would accept anything less than five per cent , he said , “ Not at all .”
Galadima had stated last week that the commission his client was expecting from the Federal Government was
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N860m and not N325m .
He had also stated that the commission should be paid based on the exchange rate at the time the money was recovered and not the current one .
Attempts to get comments from the ministry of Finance were not successful as calls and a text message sent to the Director of Information in the ministry , mr . Salisu Dambatta , were not responded to .
Beneficiary to be paid before Thursday , says ministry official meanwhile , there are indications that the Ministry of Finance is awaiting the final clearance from the EFCC before it can pay the Ikoyi whistleblower .
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November 26 , 2017
Ikoyi whistle-blower rejects FG ’ s N325m , EFCC delays payment
EFCC yet to apply to INTERPOL for Maina ’ s arrest
AdELANI AdEPEGBA
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has not applied to the International Police for the arrest of fleeing former Chairman of the Presidential Task Team on Pension reform , Abdulrasheed Maina .
It was gathered on Saturday in Abuja that the anti-graft commission had not made a formal request to the Nigerian bureau of the INTERPOL for the fugitive to be placed on the agency ’ s wanted list .
A highly-placed source explained that Maina had not been declared wanted because no agency had made a formal request to the INTERPOL on the issue .
A check on the INTERPOL website also showed that the former pension reform chairman had not been placed on the wanted list of the international agency .
This is coming almost a month after the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity , Garba Shehu , claimed that INTERPOL had issued a fresh warrant for the arrest of the embattled director .
He had told The PUNCH on october 26 , 2017 that “ Maina ’ s investigation has been expanded .”
“ This is beyond
Officials in the ministry confided in one of our correspondents that the whistle-blower was expected to be paid before the end of this month .
However , it was gathered that while the ministry was ready to make the payment , the move could be delayed as administrative work was still ongoing on the issue .
The official said the ministry had put in place detailed procedures for processing payments under the whistle-blower policy .
These procedures , according to the official , were designed to prevent abuse , legal disputes and to ensure protection of the information providers .
He stated that the identity of the information provider must be verified , adding that there would be calculation
reinstatement . It has gone beyond that . You know that the INTERPOL has just issued an international warrant on him . A Nigerian court has also issued yet another warrant of arrest ,” he had said .
But sources said the EFCC might not be keen on arresting maina , which is behind its reluctance to reapply for him to be placed on the wanted list .
“ From the look of things , the EFCC or those in government are not keen on arresting Maina and that is why no formal request for his arrest had been made to the National Central Bureau of the INTERPOL ,” a source explained .
It was learnt that the process for issuing an arrest warrant involved a formal request from a national investigative agency to the INTERPOL , which would , after consideration of the request , mandates its member states to issue red notices for the suspect .
It was further gathered that the international wanted notices were usually issued by the INTERPOL headquarters in Lyon , France , at the request of a member country .
It was gathered that the INTERPOL would not issue a wanted notice against maina until the Federal Government had of the amount payable and computation of relevant taxes .
The source stated , “ The ministry of finance is not directly involved in the recovery of looted fund ; that is the responsibility of the various security agencies .
“ Our role is to make payment and you will recall that last week , the finance minister said payment would be made this month to the person who assisted in the recovery of looted funds including the Ikoyi whistleblower .
“ That process is on and final payment can be released when we receive confirmation from the agency that made the recovery before we can know who to pay money to .
“ In the case of the Ikoyi recovery , we are talking of the EFCC which is the agency
fullfilled certain conditions , including proving he had committed a crime and tendering the warrant of arrest his arrest by any law enforcement agency and the court .
The government , it was gathered , was also expected to present an assurance that the fugitive would be extradited if arrested anywhere in the world .
Efforts to get the EFCC ’ s spokesman , Mr . Wilson Uwujaren , did not succeed as he had yet to return calls to his telephone and had yet to respond to a text message sent to him as of the time of sending this report .
Meanwhile , facts have begun to emerge that maina ’ s reinstatement might have been facilitated by the Permanent Secretary , Ministry of Interior , Abubakar Magaji , SUNDAY PUNCH has learnt .
Investigations by our correspondent in Abuja indicated that the permanent secretary had allocated an office to Maina before he received a directive from the Head of Service , Winifred Oyo-Ita , to reinstate the embattled ex-pension task team chairman .
A source in the ministry said , “ From all indications , it was the permanent secretary , who allocated an office to Maina without waiting for the letter of reinstatement from the that made the recovery and once they give us final confirmation , payment would be made .”
In a related development , Owasanoye has revealed that violation of the directive regarding the Treasury Single Account by government agencies and officials tops the list of recoveries made from the whistle-blower policy .
Owasanoye said , “ As of the end of October , over 5,000 whistles had been blown and about 75 per cent of that came from phone calls . So , you can report on the website , email , text message or phone call .
“ What are the things that the various communications have covered ? Contract inflation , ‘ ghost workers ’, payment of unapproved funds , embezzlement of salaries , diversion of excess
head of service .
“ It is true he ( the PS ) was not in the ministry when the decision to reinstate Maina was taken at a senior staff committee ’ s meeting just as he told the House of Representatives ’ committee last week , but when he resumed in July , he was aware of all that happened .”
Following a letter to the Federal Civil Service Commission dated April 27 , 2017 , by the Attorney General of the Federation , Abubakar Malami , which directed that Maina should be reinstated into the civil service , the commission asked the interior ministry to convene a senior staff committee meeting .
At the meeting , it was agreed that Maina should be reinstated as a deputy director . It was gathered that the meeting , which was held on June 22 , had in attendance two commissioners from the FCSC , Hassan Sokodabo and Ibrahim Kehinde , and a representative of the HoS , Sebastian Nalok .
The director overseeing the permanent secretary ’ s office , Dr . Rufai Attahiru , now retired , presided over the meeting because the interior ministry had no permanent secretary then .
Our correspondent learnt that the SSC meeting recommended that Maina be reinstated and placed on Level 16 as deputy director
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crude funds , improper reduction of financial penalties , diversion of funds meant for people , placing money in a commercial bank , non-remittance of deduction of pensions or NHIS and failure to implement projects .
“ Others include embezzlement of funds received from donors , embezzlement of payment meant for personnel emoluments , violation of TSA which is the highest , violation of FIRS regulations , non-procurement of safety equipment , money laundering , illegal sale of government assets , diversion of IGR which is the second largest , financial misappropriation , concealed bailout funds , mismanagement of microfinance banks and illegal recruitment .”
which was his grade level before he fled the country .
He said , “ After the decision to reinstate Maina was agreed upon at the senior staff committee meeting of the ministry , the recommendation was sent to the FCSC which approved it .
“ It will be noted that the recommendation from the ministry was not binding on the FCSC and the commission was also not also expected to carry out the AGF ’ s directive because it doesn ’ t take instructions from him .
“ As it is the practice in the civil service , the HoS was expected to send the letter of reinstatement to the ministry ’ s Permanent Secretary or maina ’ s immediate boss who will then present the letter officially to him , but Oyo-Ita withheld the letter because she felt the proper procedure was not followed .”
The source explained that Maina had not officially received the letter before Magaji , who had resumed in the ministry as permanent secretary , allocated an office to him and gave him files to treat .
When contacted , the spokesman for interior ministry , Willy Bassey , said he had no information on Magaji ’ s roles in the matter and could not comment .
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