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Proceeds spent to fix infrastructure
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Says 3000 terrorism cases so far profiled
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P&ID main hearing for January 16
By Vivian Okejeme, Abuja
The Federal Government has revealed that it has so far generated revenue from the sale of forfeited assets to the tune of N1,823,788,146.86 (One Billion, Eight Hundred and Twenty Three Million, Seven Hundred & Eighty-Eight Thousand, One Hundred and Forty-Six Thousand naira, Eighty-Six kobo).
This was part of the proceeds recovered from the fight against corruption under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari between 2015 and 2021.
And in compliance with Presidential mandates and foreign judicial processes, the Ministry of Justice has also recovered the total sums of £6,324,627.66 (Six Million, Three Hundred & Twenty-Four Thousand, Six Hundred & Twenty Seven Pounds, Sixty-Six Pence); €5,494,743.71 (Five Million, Four Hundred and Ninety-Four thousand, Seven Hundred and Forty-Three Euro, Seventy-One Cents); and $390,000,000 (Three Hundred and Ninety Million dollars) from various offshore jurisdictions.
Some of the recovered funds are being utilized in the financing of critical infrastructure including the Abuja – Kano Expressway, the Second Niger Bridge, and the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway.
These were parts of the submissions of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami on Thursday in Abuja at the 18th edition of the Scorecard Series of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration between 2015-2022.
Malami also revealed that the substantive hearing of the case involving the Federal Government and the P&ID over contract is coming next Monday, January 16, 2023.
Recall that since 2012, Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID), a shell company now backed by a powerful international vulture fund, VR Advisory Services Limited, has been attempting to enforce a scam agreement procured through fraud and corruption against the government of Nigeria.
P&ID claimed to have procured a gas supply and processing agreement (GSPA) to develop a sophisticated processing plant for the Federal Republic of Nigeria in about 2010.
Two years later, work on the gas processing plant had yet to begin. The agreement collapsed, and P&ID launched private arbitration proceedings against Nigeria.
Approximately US$11 billion was at stake, and the aggressively pursued debt threatened to strip away state assets worth more than ten times Nigeria’s national health budget; over eight times its education budget; or well over a quarter of the country’s gross foreign reserves.
Three years after the collapse of the agreement, President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2015, was voted into office on an internationally recognised anti-corruption platform.
Nigeria’s Attorney General Abubakar Malami started a formal investigation into P&ID and the GSPA, at President Buhari’s directive.
Nigeria’s legal team filed a substantive evidence in the London High Court that the agreement was procured through fraud and corruption. They argued that the agreement and (then) US$9.7 billion arbitration award must be overturned. The Court set down a timetable for Nigeria’s case to be considered. Despite many opportunities to do so, P&ID said nothing to rebut the overwhelming evidence of fraud and corruption.
The private arbitration tribunal ordered Nigeria to pay P&ID just under US$6.6 billion with interest accruing from 20 March 2013 at a rate of seven per cent, which equates to more than US$1 million a day. It now stands at nearly US$10 billion.
In September, 2019, following the investigation, P&ID and P&ID Nigeria (a linked Nigerian entity) were convicted on an eleven-count charge, including money laundering and fraudulently claiming to have acquired land.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria is granted permission to appeal the arbitration decision in the London Court of Appeal.
Nigeria’s legal team filed substantive evidence in the London High Court that the GSPA was procured through fraud and corruption. They argued that the agreement and (then) US$9.7 billion arbitration award must be overturned. The Court set down a timetable for Nigeria’s case to be considered. The substantive hearing comes up Monday, January 16, 2023, about four days away.
In the course of his presentation, the AGF said yesterday that due to the concerted effort by his office in conjunction with relevant stakeholders, including the legislature, the President recently assented to Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act 2022 (POCA) on 12th May 2022.
“I wish to state that POCA is the first legislation in Nigeria that comprehensively provides for mechanisms, processes and procedures for the tracing, restraint, seizure, confiscation, forfeiture and management of properties derived from unlawful activities. Its main objective is to take out the profits that incentivize and fund crime, with the ultimate aim of disrupting the cycle of crime and preventing future offences and corrupt practices, “ he said.
He added that a total of 648 (Six Hundred and Forty-Eight) cases instituted against the President, Federal Government and its Agencies, before States, Federal and ECOWAS Courts were served on the Ministry.
The cases, he said, are at different stages of trial. “Diligent defences of these cases in the year 2022 alone saved the government from huge judgment debt liabilities to the tune of N142,458,343,888.52 (One Hundred and Forty-Two Billion, Four Hundred and Fifty-Eight Million, Three Hundred & Forty-Three Thousand, Eight Hundred & Eighty-Eight Naira, Fifty-Two Kobo) and US$507,415,901.19 (Five Hundred & Seven Million, Four Hundred & Fifteen Thousand, Nine Hundred & One Dollars, Nineteen Cents).”
According to the AGF, a total of 3,000 Terrorism cases have been profiled to date out of which over 1500 cases were prosecuted, with 397 convictions realized.
“A total of 7000 cases involving various offences including Maritime, Armed Robbery, Vandalization of Electrical Equipment and Pipelines, Financial matters, Cyber Crime, Kidnapping and Anti-corruption have been successfully prosecuted,” he added.
He said the Justice Ministry is coordinating the next phase of terrorism related trials in collaboration with the Federal High Court, the Legal Aid Council, and the Defence Headquarters. In this regard, the Ministry is currently remodeling structures at the Wawa Cantonment, Kainji to accommodate eight (8) courtrooms, Judges’ Chambers, living accommodation, Lawyers’ dressing room and conveniences to make them conducive for Judges, Witnesses as well as Defendants.
A major positive development in the anti-corruption agenda of Buhari administration, he said, is the adoption of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS).
“The NACS was first adopted by the Federal Executive Council in July 2017 to run for a period spanning 2017 to 2021. The NACS implementation has now been extended from 2022 to 2026.
“ The strategy seeks to develop and implement mechanisms aimed at improving governance of public institutions at the Federal, State and Local Government levels, by combatting corruption related factors inhibiting Government’s capacity to deliver quality services to Nigerians.
“The NACS also has a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Committee established by the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, comprising of Twenty-Two (22) members drawn from different sectors including state and non-state actors with the Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms (TUGAR) as the secretariat.
“The M&E Committee has the responsibility to monitor and evaluate the progress made on the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy in Nigeria,” he said.
