The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement issued on Sunday in Lagos, said actionable information given by whistle-blowers to the office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation led to the recovery of the looted fund.
He said the looted funds do not include the $9.2m in cash allegedly owned by a former Group Managing Director of the NNPC, also a dividend of the whistle-blower policy.
He said, “The biggest amount of $136.7m was recovered from an account in a commercial bank, where the money was kept under an apparently fake
account name.
“This was followed by N7bn and $15m from another person and N1bn from yet another.”
The minister reiterated the position of government that there was a primitive and mindless looting of the national treasury under the last administration.
He said the whistle-blower policy has started yielding fruit, few months after its adoption by the government.
He said, “The whistle-blower policy is barely two months old and Nigerians have started feeling its impact, how a few people squirrelled away public funds.
“It is doubtful if any economy in the world will not feel the impact of such mind-boggling looting of the treasury as was experienced in Nigeria.
“Yet whatever has been recovered so far, including the $9.2m by the EFCC, is just a tip of the iceberg.”
The minister appealed to Nigerians with useful information on looted funds to continue to provide the authorities with such information, saying confidentiality will be maintained with regards to the source of the information.
He also reminded Nigerians of the financial reward aspect of the policy. “If there is a voluntary return of stolen or concealed public funds or assets on the account of the information provided, the whistle blower may be entitled to anywhere between 2.5 per cent (Minimum) and 5.0 per cent (Maximum) of the total amount recovered.”
NAN
