Why Buhari Won't Disclose Amount Recovered from Loots - Presidency Tell Nigerians

Garba Shehu

The President Buhari-led Federal Government has spoken out to address the reason why it won't disclose the amount of looted funds it recovered from corrupt public officials.

In a chat with journalists in Abuja at the weekend, Shehu Garba, the Special Assistant to the President on Media, has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government will not be able to dis­close the exact amount retrieved so far from certain persons that looted the treasury, saying it would be used as evidence in the court trials of the indicted persons.

But he assured that the recovered funds were safe in a dedicated account in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), adding that the possibility of using the recovered funds as exhibit in the trial of the culprits posed a challenge.

It can be recalled that critics have tackled Buhari over what they considered his lack of transparency and openness regarding the much-touted recovered funds allegedly looted from government treasury.

But while defending the president, Garba said:

"The issue of disclosing how much has been recovered from his (Buhari) anti-graft war would be difficult because the money retrieved will be used as evidence and exhibit against the culprits in court. Since the President promised to recover and prosecute (looters), it will be difficult to disclose the figure of the millions returned.

"I am aware that there is an account in the CBN where some of these funds are being kept but they are evidences for a judge to see, it is not for public display. I think that is the challenge we have at the moment."

Meanwhile in an excerpt from a recent interview, he was asked on the update on recovered loot that had been stashed outside Nigeria.

He said; "The President recently said that the government would put the numbers together and make a pronouncement on it. However, people are returning money even without the courts asking them to do so but at the right time the president would make a pronouncement on that."

President Buhari had last November dur­ing a question-and-answer with members of the Nigerian community in Tehran, Iran confirmed that some former government officials have started voluntarily returning to the Federal Government’s coffers, part of the public funds they acquired illegally.

The Attorney- General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, on a different forum, said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commis­sion, EFCC, has so far recovered over $2 trillion (about N400 trillion) looted from the national treasury.