The Federal Government says it has made multiple recoveries of looted funds totaling 151 million dollars and eight billion naira through the ‘Whistle-Blower Policy’.
The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, in a statement on Sunday, said the recovered funds does not include the 9.2 million Dollar found with the former GMD of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu, adding that it was a recovery made through whistle blowing.
Giving the break down, the Minister said the biggest money recovered is 136, 676, 600.51 million Dollars from an account in a commercial bank, where the money was allegedly kept under a fake account name.
According to the Minister, another 7 billion Naira and 15 million dollars were recovered from a second person, while yet another 1 billion Naira was gotten from a third suspect.
Although the Minister did not mention the actual persons involved, he said the government is making tremendous progress through the Whistle-Blower Policy.
The Minister in his words said, “When we told Nigerians that there was a primitive and mindless looting of the National Treasury under the last administration, some people called us liars.
“Well, the Whistle-Blower Policy is barely two months old and Nigerians have started feeling its impact”.
The Minister insists that whatever has been recovered including the 9.2 million Dollars from the former NNPC GMD by the EFCC is just a tip of the iceberg
He appealed to Nigerians to give useful information on looted funds to continue to provide the authorities with such information, saying confidentiality would be maintained with regards to the source of the information.
Mr Mohammed also reminded Nigerians of the financial reward aspect of the policy, saying “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% (minimum) and 5.0% (maximum) of the total amount recovered”.
