The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has stated that the investigation into a former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), was an inherited case file, dismissing claims that the probe is a personal vendetta.
Olukoyede made this clarification on Sunday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, amid controversy surrounding the EFCC’s scrutiny of Malami and a recent court order for the interim forfeiture of properties allegedly linked to him and his family.
The EFCC boss explained that he met the investigation file upon his assumption of office and that the case had been active for nearly two and a half years before his tenure.
“The investigation of this man predated me in the office. A lot of you don’t know that. Yes! I inherited the investigation file,” Olukoyede stated.
He emphasized that the anti-graft agency only proceeded with charges after ensuring a thorough and professional investigation.
“For the past two years that I’ve been in the office, we’ve been painstakingly carrying out the investigation, trying to establish some of these offences and all of that. Not until I was convinced that we had a watertight case. So there is nothing personal about it,” he added.
Olukoyede also addressed Malami’s allusion to a Justice Ayo Salami-led panel report, which the former minister suggested indicted the EFCC chairman. He challenged Malami to make the report public and questioned why it was not released during the two years Malami remained in office after the panel concluded its work.
“Those who claim I was fraudulently or criminally indicted by the panel, the onus is on them to publish the report for people to see,” Olukoyede said.
He revealed that he was only invited to the panel as a witness in his capacity as Secretary to the Commission at the time and was later cleared by both the EFCC’s internal investigation and the Presidency.
Spear News Nigeria had earlier reported that the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the interim forfeiture of 57 properties valued at approximately N213.2 billion, allegedly linked to Malami and his two sons.
The EFCC stated that the assets, spread across several states, are suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
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