November 14, 2017

The last has not been heard of the controversies surrounding the payment of the 5% commission to the whistleblower who gave the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) tips that led to the recovery of $43.4 million, N23.3 million and 27,800 Euros that was stashed in an apartment at the Osborne Towers in Ikoyi, Lagos on April 22, 2017 as the original whistleblowers have petitioned the office of the Attorney General of the Federation(AGF) and Minister of Justice, PRNigeria has learnt on good authority.

In a petition dated August 24th, 2017 addressed to the AGF and received on September 8th, 2017, solicitors to the claimants, No Limit Legal Partners, on behalf of Abdulmumin Musa, Mr Stephen Sunday and Mr Bala Usman told the AGF that his clients by the workings of EFCC have shortchanged the whistleblowers by bringing others who were not the arrowhead of the whistleblowing.

The solicitors noted that “Our clients informed us sometime in December 2016 that three (3) of them voluntarily walked into the office of the EFCC at 15A Awolowo Road Ikoyi, Lagos and gave vital information that led to the recovery of over N13 billion at the Ikoyi Towers, Lagos.”

The Legal Practitioners further told the AGF that “upon subsequent visit to give a detailed information as required by the commission to raid the Tower, they were told if the operation was successful, 5% of the amount recovered will be their take-home within 72 hours of recovery, they were also cautioned that if the information happened to be false, then they will definitely be in trouble which the three mentioned above accepted because they were sure of their facts”.

The petition continues: “That when the operation was carried out, it was successful but since then they have not received any commendation by the commission, let alone give any reward as stated even though the EFCC have their names and phone numbers”.

The Petitioners said rather than to do the needful, some of the EFCC staff gave them further information that they were not the only people who gave them information on the Ikoyi Tower as others were also involved without mentioning them.

Upon various meetings by the three persons, they agreed to go back and meet the Head of EFCC operations, Alhaji Samaila Muhammed and were told on their visit that the numbers have increased to nine(9) who made the report urging them to bring the remaining persons.

When contacted on the matter, the Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance on Media and Communications, Mr. Yinka Akintunde said that such issues be referred to EFCC and not the responsibility of the Ministry. He added that the ministry comes in when the rightful persons were duly recognised by the relevant authorities for payment after due process.

When PRNigeria contacted the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr Wilsom Uwujaren to explain the role of the commission on the matter, he said several persons have in the past besieged the commission to say that they were part of whistleblowing. He confirmed that that the commission has records of the original whistleblowers of the Ikoyi Towers stressing that all will be done to make sure that the right persons are paid accordingly.

Meanwhile, PRNigeria has learnt that the petitioners are heading to the court to stop the payment to wrong persons who were not involved in the whistleblowing. They added that two clear months after the submission of the petition to the AGF, nothing concrete had been done by the Minister to look into their matter.

They alleged that the EFCC sold out in the processes leading to the recovery of the said amount, stating that the development would discourage genuine whistleblowers in the fight against corruption by the present administration.

There were recent controversies as to whether the whistleblower had already been paid or not between the EFCC and the Ministry of Finance.

Explaining the development, Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, Sunday gave reasons why the whistleblower who gave the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) tips that led to the recovery of $43.4 million, N23.3 million and 27,800 Euros at the Ikoyi apartment has not been paid.
Her response came at a time that Nigerians placed the blames on the doorstep of the federal government over its unwillingness to pay the whistleblower his 5% commission as enshrined in the policy.

The Minister further said “the Federal Government has not withheld any fund due to any whistleblower. The Ministry has in place detailed procedures for processing payments due under the Whistleblower Policy. The procedures were designed to prevent abuse and legal disputes and to ensure protection of the information providers.

“These procedures include an application by the agency who recovered the funds including evidence of the recovery, confirmation that there are no pending legal issues on the recovery, verification of the identity of the information provider, calculation of the amount payable and computation of relevant taxes,” she said in a Press statement.