The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, says the Federal Government is following due process in handling the payment of the 3,188,079,505.96 million US dollars Paris Club refund judgment.
Malami said this on Tuesday in Abuja at the Press briefing in response to some reports published, alleging that him and the Chief of Staff to the President Prof. Ibrahim Gambari were for the suspicious payment of the said sum.
The judgment debts was based on the action instituted by some affected Local Governments and ALGON against Federal Government of Nigeria in suit no: FHC/ABJ/CS/130/13 – LINAS International LTD & 235 ORS V. Federal Government of Nigeria & 3 ORS to recover the sum of $3,188,079,505.96.
Judgment was delivered in favour of the plaintiffs on 3rd December, 2013, Consequently, upon a Garnishee Order Absolute was granted in 2016 directing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as Garnishee to pay $3,188,079,505.96 to the Local Government. The Garnishee Order was granted by H.B Yusuf (Hon, Justice).
Malami noted that the said judgment was years before President Muhammadu Buhari came to office and long before he was made a Minister described the allegations as mischievous.
“My initial reaction was to ignore the reports because they lacked merit as evidenced by not only contradictory submissions but also a hasty collection of feeble fabrications, unsubstantiated concoctions and figment of imagination of the writer.
“However, we have to set the record straight and to clear the mischievous insinuations and misconceptions intended to be the aftermath of the report.
For the records, we respond as follows:
“In view of the enormous volume of the judgment sum and dwindling resources coupled with the policy imbibed by my office to save the government of frivolous liabilities, we embarked on extra-ordinary due diligence including directing for investigation of the matter by law enforcement and security agencies with a view to assessing the veracity of the claim in view of the lessons learnt from the fraudulent P&ID case.
“In fact even when it became inevitable that the payment had to be effected, with the consent of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and ALGON, my office had to extract undertaking and indemnity from NGF and ALGON in 2019.
“These were in order to guard the government coffers from being robbed by some unscrupulous agents like the case of P&ID’’.
He said that his office took steps to be double sure about the engagements.
“The office wrote letters to the Economic and Fiancial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Department of State Service (DSS) and ALGON to furnish us with facts that will guide our legal opinions.
“On August 29, 2018, my office through the then Director of Civil Ligitation, E.O. Omonowa, Esq wrote a letter (MJ/CIV/ABJ/440/16) to the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the ALGON seeking among other things:
a) Evidence of the resolution by ALGON to engage Ted Edwards. Edwards Partners to recover funds related to the refund of Paris and London debt over-deductions.
b) Evidence of any amount so recovered by Ted Edwards/Edwards and Partners
c) Evidence of the authorization by the various Local Government Councils consenting to the payment of professional or legal fee to Ted Edwards/Edwards and Partners from their portion of refund of Paris and London debt over deductions,
d) Confirmation of the engagement of Redemption Chambers (E.A Egbebu &Co) to file an action challenging the judgment obtained by Ted Edwards/Edwards & Partners against ALGON.
e) Evidence of the resolution by ALGON to award contract to Riok Nigeria Ltd for the construction of boreholes across the 774 LGAs.
f) Evidence of the execution or performance of the said contract by Riok Nigeria Ltd.
g) Evidence of the authorization by the various Local Government Councils to the payment of the contract sum due to Riok Nigeria Ltd from their portion of refund of Paris and London over-deductions’’.
He also noted that in a letter titled “Extract of Resolution of the meeting of the Board on 29/09/2011” Paragraph 1 of the letter indicated “That Edwards and Partners Law Firms should be appointed as Solicitors and Legal Representatives for the Board of Incorporated Trustees of ALGON.
“ This is contrary to the claim by the online report that a letter from ALGON dated 10th September, 2018 denied involvement of Ted Edwards/Edwards and Partners for the said project, seven years before the so-called letter ALGON resolved to and did engaged the parties for the project’’.
Malami noted also that his office wrote letters to Law Enforcement and Security Agencies to conduct independent investigations on the issue.
“In the final report, the EFCC maintained that “the respective judgments obtained by Riok Nig. Ltd and Edwards & Partners affirming their entitlements to payments were confirmed by the records obtained from the respective FCT High Courts”.
“Findings of the investigation of the Law Enforcement and Security Agency also revealed that there exist a valid consultancy and legal service agreement between TED EDWARDS and PARTNERS and Incorporated Trustees of ALGON for the recovery of Local Government’s share of London Debt Buy Back and Exist from the federal government’s consolidated revenue fund.
“The facts of the case as revealed in the course of investigation do not indicate any act(s) of criminality on part of the parties in the transaction as contained in the submission to my dated June 13, 2017.
“It is imperative to note that the further request of my office to security and law enforcement agencies was to have a thorough investigation of the issue concluded.
He said that as regards to the level of completion of the contract awarded to RIOK NIG LTD and its physical existence, verification exercise conducted through the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria confirmed the existence of the projects.
However, while some have been completed, others are at various stage of completion and the various stages established are as follows:
Completed 182
Functional 91
Abandoned 33
Ongoing 205
Non Identified 107
Those geographically surveyed 178
The report concluded thus:
“In view of the forgoing, it is humbly recommended that the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice may wish to direct the Federal Ministry of Finance and CBN Governor to pay the contractor to enable him complete the project for the benefit of this people”.
He said that his office rising from a clear historical antecedent of the role it played in the case of P&ID, remained steadfast in the sustenance of the public interest which in effect is saving the federal government from frivolous financial liabilities.
“It should be on records that extra-ordinary due diligence was carried out by my office on the payment of the Supreme Court Judgment in contention with particular regards to the efforts put in place to unravel the veracity of the claim and whether in fact any fraudulent undertone could be discovered.
“The reports and due diligence of the Law Enforcement and Security agencies provided on this matter speak for themselves as to the reasonability or otherwise of the mischievous publication by the Premium Times and Sahara Reporters.
“The fact remains inevitably glaring that their reports are baseless and mischievous,’’ he concluded.
