Malami Clears Self in $3.1B Paris Club refund judgment debt.
*Says debt ordered for payment by Court, Verified by EFCC, DSS.
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN has cleared himself of any blame in the $3.1billion dollars Paris Club Refund judgment debt insisting that it was ordered for payment by a valid high court judgment in Abuja.
Malami said that the huge debt arose from legitimate transactions freely entered into by parties in the court action long before President Muhammadu Buhari came to power and before his own appointment as AGF.
At a press conference he addressed in Abuja to clear his office and his person of an alleged shady deals in respect of the judgment, Malami specifically explained that the order for the judgment debt payment came from a suit marked FCC/ABJ/CS/130/13 between Linas international Ltd & 235 others versus FGN & 3 others.
He explained that the suit instituted in 2013 had prayed for the recovery of $3.188.079.505 adding that judgment was delivered in favor of of the plaintiffs on December 3, 2013 before the advent of the incumbent administrator and his own appointment.
Consequent upon the judgment, the AGF further explained that Justice Hussein Baba Yusuf of the high court of the Federal Capital Territory granted a Garnishee Order Absolute in 2016 directing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as Garnishee to pay the huge sum to affected Local Governments
To ensure that no sharp practice came into play as witnessed in the P&ID judgment scandal, the AGF said both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC and the Department of State Security Services were deployed by his office into the matter for investigations.
Malami said that at the end of their thorough investigations, the two agencies confirmed the contractual agreements between Association of Local Governments of Nigeria and their contractors and also validity of the court judgment ordering payment of the debt by the CBN.
Malami therefore wondered why two online media organizations, Premium Times and the Sahara Reporters came about their alleged malicious and baseless publications linking him and his office to an alleged pushing for hurried payment of the judgment debt ordered since 2013 by a competent court of record.
He faulted the media publications adding that their authors deliberately concealed facts relating to the judgment debt and fed the Nigerian public with falsehood that portrayed him and his office in bad light.
Malami insisted that neither President Buhari nor himself was in office in 2013 when ALGON and their contractors as well as law firms engaged themselves for services that later resorted to court action and court order for judgment granted in favour of the plaintiff.
“It is interesting to note that both the Premium Times and Sahara Reporters have chosen to turn blind eyes to the judgment and its adverse effects on the Nigerian economy when it was delivered and in effect chose to attack Abubakar Malami who had exerted extra efforts in saving the nation from the scourge of consequential liability
“In fact, when it became inevitable that the payment had to be effected with the consent of Governors Forum and ALGON, the office of AGF had to extract undertaking and indemnity from Nigeria Governors Forum NGF and ALGON in2019”
While exonerating himself from any blame in the judgment debt payment, Malami insisted that all necessary precautions were taken by his office and pleaded with the media especially Premium Times and Sahara Reporters to always get their facts clear in order not to feed the public with falsehood.