Recovered stolen funds: FG vows to obey court's ruling to publish names of looters
The federal government said it would publish the names of treasury looters as ordered by the Federal High court in Lagos on Wednesday so Nigerians can see.
Abubakar Malami, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council meeting.
According Malami, the federal government totally agrees with the ruling of the court and hence, will carry out the order as long as it does not amount to violation of the rules of the court.
Justice Hadiza Rabiu Shagari-led Lagos Federal High Court had, in a ruling, ordered the federal government to “immediately release to Nigerians information about the names of high ranking public officials from whom public funds were recovered and the circumstances under which funds were recovered, as well as the exact amount of funds recovered from each public official.
The judgement followed a Freedom of Information suit number: FHC/CS/964/2016 brought by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) against the federal government.
In her judgment, Shagari had agreed with SERAP that “the Federal Government has a legally binding obligations to tell Nigerians the names of all suspected looters of the public treasury past and present.”
Joined as Defendants in the suit are the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Muhammed and the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture.
Shagari also granted the following reliefs: A DECLARATION that by virtue of the provisions of Section 4 (a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2011, the Defendants are under a binding legal obligation to provide the Plaintiff with up to date information relating to the following: To widely disseminate including on a dedicated website information about the names of high ranking public officials from whom public funds were recovered since May 2015 and the circumstances under which stolen public funds were returned.
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