Why Ikoyi Whistleblower rejected his own share of the stolen loot

…my client will collect nothing less than 5 percent- Lawyer

Lawyer to the security officer who alerted government officials to the recovery of N13bn in an Ikoyi residence has disclosed why his client is yet to be paid, Sunday Punch is reporting.

According to the national daily,the lawyer for the whistle-blower, Yakubu Galadima, informed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that of the $43m, N23.2m and £27,800 (N13bn) recovered from an Ikoyi apartment, his client will not accept anything below five per cent commission.

“Galadima said this during a chat with one of Punch’s correspondents on Saturday.

When asked if his client would accept anything less than five per cent, he said, “Not at all.”

Galadima had stated last week that the commission his client was expecting from the Federal Government was N860m and not N325m.

He had also stated that the commission should be paid based on the exchange rate at the time the money was recovered and not the current one.

Meanwhile the news firm noted that attempts to get comments from the Ministry of Finance were not successful as calls and a text message sent to the Director of Information in the ministry, Mr. Salisu Dambatta, were not responded to.

It however noted that there are indications that the Ministry of Finance is awaiting the final clearance from the EFCC before it can pay the Ikoyi whistleblower.

Officials in the ministry confided in Punch that the whistle-blower was expected to be paid before the end of this month.

They gathered that while the ministry was ready to make the payment, the move could be delayed as administrative work was still ongoing on the issue.

The official said the ministry had put in place detailed procedures for processing payments under the whistle-blower policy.

These procedures, according to the official, were designed to prevent abuse, legal disputes and to ensure protection of the information providers.

He stated that the identity of the information provider must be verified, adding that there would be calculation of the amount payable and computation of relevant taxes.

The source stated, “The ministry of finance is not directly involved in the recovery of looted fund; that is the responsibility of the various security agencies.

“Our role is to make payment and you will recall that last week, the finance minister said payment would be made this month to the person who assisted in the recovery of looted funds including the Ikoyi whistle-blower.

“That process is on and final payment can be released when we receive confirmation from the agency that made the recovery before we can know who to pay money to.

“In the case of the Ikoyi recovery, we are talking of the EFCC which is the agency that made the recovery and once they give us final confirmation, payment would be made.”

In a related development, The Secretary of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye has revealed that violation of the directive regarding the Treasury Single Account by government agencies and officials tops the list of recoveries made from the whistle-blower policy.

Owasanoye said, “As of the end of October, over 5,000 whistles had been blown and about 75 per cent of that came from phone calls. So, you can report on the website, email, text message or phone call.

“What are the things that the various communications have covered? Contract inflation, ‘ghost workers’, payment of unapproved funds, embezzlement of salaries, diversion of excess crude funds, improper reduction of financial penalties, diversion of funds meant for people, placing money in a commercial bank, non-remittance of deduction of pensions or NHIS and failure to implement projects.

“Others include embezzlement of funds received from donors, embezzlement of payment meant for personnel emoluments, violation of TSA which is the highest, violation of FIRS regulations, non-procurement of safety equipment, money laundering, illegal sale of government assets, diversion of IGR which is the second largest, financial misappropriation, concealed bailout funds, mismanagement of micro-finance banks and illegal recruitment.”