Malami has denied terrorism financing allegations.
NaijaOnPoint Nigeria reports that Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has debunked reports linking him to terrorism financing, money laundering, or the ownership of multiple bank accounts, insisting that his only engagement with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) concerned clarifications on the recovery of Abacha loot.
In a statement issued by his media office on Wednesday, Malami described the allegations circulating online as “false, misleading and baseless.” He stated that no intelligence, security, or law enforcement agency either in Nigeria or abroad had ever investigated or questioned him over terrorism-related offences or financial misconduct.
According to him, the EFCC’s invitation was strictly to clarify an alleged duplication in the process leading to the recovery of the $310 million Abacha funds during the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
“My engagement with the EFCC was strictly limited to addressing concerns about an alleged duplication of the recovery process. That was the only issue they sought clarification on,” he said.
Malami explained that the EFCC reviewed two assumptions abuse of office and money laundering but found no grounds to pursue charges after he provided detailed documentation to show that no duplication occurred. He noted that the funds in question were not lodged into the Federation Account before 2016, which meant no completed recovery had occurred at the time.
He also referenced a 2016 request by Swiss lawyer Enrico Monfrini for re-engagement, arguing that it confirmed that earlier recovery efforts had not been concluded. Malami said the Buhari administration rejected the lawyer’s $5 million upfront fee and potential 40 per cent success fee, opting instead to hire Nigerian lawyers at a capped cost of 5 per cent saving the country billions of naira.
He added that different tranches of Abacha loot were repatriated at separate times and used for various national priority projects.
According to him, the $322.5 million returned from Switzerland between 2017 and 2018 was deployed to the National Social Investment Programme under World Bank supervision, while the $321 million repatriated from Jersey in 2020 funded infrastructure projects including the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, Abuja–Kano Road and the Second Niger Bridge.
Malami dismissed attempts to link or conflate the separate recoveries as “deliberate mischief.”
He also addressed reports quoting a retired military officer as having accused him of financing terrorism. Malami said the officer had since publicly clarified that he made no such accusation, but the correction received little media attention.
Reaffirming his contributions to Nigeria’s anti-corruption framework, the former minister noted that he championed the establishment of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the passage of the 2022 anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, which helped Nigeria exit the FATF grey list.
He urged the public to ignore what he described as a coordinated smear campaign.
“I remain confident that truth will prevail over political witch-hunt, misinformation and intimidation,” he said.
Meanwhile, NaijaOnPoint earlier reported that the EFCC detained Malami after he failed to meet the bail conditions granted to him. A senior EFCC official confirmed that the former minister would remain in custody until he meets the requirements.
“We arrested him for not meeting his bail conditions. He will remain in our custody until he meets those conditions,” the official said.
Another EFCC source disclosed that Malami is currently being investigated for 18 different offences, including alleged money laundering, abuse of office and terrorism financing. The official noted that investigators were still uncovering new information linked to the allegations.