Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has dismissed allegations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that he duplicated the recovery process of the $310 million (later $322.5 million with interest) Abacha loot, describing the claims as “baseless, illogical and wholly devoid of substance.”
In a statement issued on Sunday, signed by his media aide, Mohammed Doka, Malami confirmed that he was invited by the EFCC on November 28, 2025, over alleged abuse of office and money laundering linked to the recovery.
He said both accusations collapsed when subjected to factual scrutiny.
The EFCC’s position is that I duplicated a recovery process allegedly completed by a Swiss lawyer, Mr. Enrico Monfrini, before I assumed office.
“This allegation collapses immediately when subjected to facts and elementary logic,” Malami said.
Malami insisted no such recovery had been completed before he took office in 2015, noting that recovered funds can only be considered complete upon lodgement into the Federation Account.
As at 2016, there was no lodgement of any such funds into the Federation Account. There was therefore no completed recovery in existence, and nothing whatsoever to duplicate,” he said.
He further revealed that Monfrini himself applied in December 2016 to be re-engaged for the same recovery—proof, he said, that the claim of prior completion was illogical.
“It is entirely illogical for a lawyer to apply in December 2016 to be engaged to recover funds he purportedly recovered two years earlier.
“That singular fact exposes the internal contradiction and absurdity of the EFCC’s narrative,” Malami stated.
According to him, Monfrini demanded a $5 million upfront deposit and a success fee of 40 per cent—later reduced to 20 per cent—terms the Buhari administration rejected.
Instead, a Nigerian law firm was hired on a 5 per cent success-fee arrangement, which he said saved the country between 15 and 35 per cent of the recovered funds, amounting to between ₦76.8 billion and ₦179.2 billion.
“These are concrete, measurable benefits to the Nigerian state,” he said.
