By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Ahmed Idris, on Tuesday disclosed that the £4.2 million looted by a former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori, and repatriated to Nigeria from the United Kingdom recently, has been returned to the state.
Idris disclosed this in Abuja, when he appeared before the House of Representatives’ Ad hoc Committee on Assessment and Status of All Recovered Loot, Movable and Immovable Assets from 2002 to 2020 by Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria for Effective, Efficient Management and Utilisation.
The Accountant-General, who was reportedly grilled by the committee for over an hour, stated that such funds looted from the treasury of a state were always returned to the state.
He added that states could sue the Federal Government to recover such funds.
But his position is at variance with that of the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, who had explained that the money was returned on the basis of a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed with the British Government spelling out how and on what projects the money would be spent on.
Malami had ruled out the possibility of Nigeria breaching the terms of the MoU.
