An unidentified whistle-blower who exposed an account with $223m (N80.2bn) belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has accused the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation of withholding his rightful commission of N1.8bn.
In an investigation conducted by The Punch into the case, the whistle-blower approached the AGF, Abubakar Malami (SAN), in June 2018 and informed him of an account named, ‘NNPC Brass LNG INV. Fund’ with number 1750027157 domiciled in Skye Bank (now Polaris Bank).
Contravening the Treasury Single Account policy of the Federal Government, the bank had refused to remit the money to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
It was gathered that when the Bank Verification Number (BVN) initiative was introduced and Maikanti Baru was appointed as the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, 14 persons (all NNPC officials) were listed as signatories to the account in contravention of banking practices.
Some of the names of signatories include: NNPC GMD, Maikanti Baru, with BVN 22169280709; NNPC Group General Manager, Babatunde Victor Adeniran, with BVN 22144631650; Head of Marketing, Mele Kolo Kyari, with BVN 22206528997; and Group General Manager, Research and Development, Surajudeen Bolanle Afolabi with BVN 22215178271.
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Others include the Managing Director, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, Yusuf Shimingah Matashi with BVN 22272006629; NNPC Secretary, Chukwudi Ogonna Momah, with BVN 22144111468; Group General Manager, CSR, Ohi Alegbe with BVN 22232395310; and Group General Manager, Group Insurance, NNPC, Modupe Bammeke with BVN 22190602006.
Upon reporting the matter to the AGF, an investigation was launched, and members of the bank’s board were invited.
They pleaded for the option of paying in instalments, saying that transferring all the money to the CBN in one fell swoop would affect the bank negatively.
To substantiate his role, the whistle-blower signed a bond along with the AGF which was witnessed by Ladidi Mohammed, the Head, Asset Recovery and Management Unit at the AGF’s office.
The bond dated June 14, 2018 stated in part that, “any recovered amount from N5bn and above attracts a flat/definite reward of two and a half per cent of the recovered sum.”
It further stated the commission shall become due and payable to the whistle-blower ‘within 30 days’ of the receipt of the recovered/looted funds by the Federal Government and payment shall be made to the designated/nominated account provided in writing by the whistle-blower.
However, 11 months after the agreement was signed, the Federal Government had failed to give the whistle-blower any money.
In a letter signed by the whistle-blower’s lawyer, Aliyu Lemu, which was addressed to the AGF, the whistle-blower lamented the failure of the government to honour the agreement.
He threatened to sue the Federal Government if he was not paid his commission within seven days.
The letter read in part, “We therefore on behalf of our client make a final demand for the immediate payment of the sum of N1, 829, 794, 676 being the reward due to our client as stipulated in paragraph (e) of the whistle-blower Reward Agreement executed with the Federal Government.
“Take notice that if the above final demand is not heeded within the period of seven days from the date of receipt of this letter, we shall explore all other social, public and legal remedies available to our client under the constitution of Nigeria without further recourse to your good office.”