MINISTER of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, says she is yet to receive formal communication regarding the £4.2 million recovered from a former Delta State Governor, James Ibori.
She disclosed this while speaking before the joint committee of the House of Representatives investigating the status of recovered looted funds, moveable and immovable assets yesterday.
A member of the committee Sada Soli (APC, Kaduna) had asked the minister about the status of the recovered funds.
He said: “Can we know the status of that recovery [the £4.2 million Ibori funds]? Is that recovery federal government of Nigeria’s money or the state of Delta?
“We need to put this issue to rest. We are helping the executive and we are helping the country.
“To my understanding, there are many hands making recoveries to manage this, to manage that, we still don’t have a central body that can manage these things, which is not your fault. What is the status of this £4.2 million?”
Responding, the minister said: “On the £4.2 million, I am still waiting to get information about that recovery.
“I have of course read in the media, that the recovery has been made.
“But what happened in the past is that the Attorney General will write to Mr President and report that recovery and then give advice on what to be done.
“He gives advice based on the negotiations they made during the process of the recovery and then that instruction is made available to us.
“Up till now, I have not received any formal information on this £4.2 million.
“I cannot say whether it is a federal government’s fund or a state’s fund because it depends on the advice that will come,” she said.
However, Sada further probed that, “If I can get you right, the ministry of finance, was never at any point in time, involved in that negotiations”.
The minister responded saying: “It is a legal process. We are not involved in the court process”.
