– The presidency is happy to have recovered as much as $9 billion from treasury looters without going to court – The federal government did not release the names of looters in order not to truncate the operation – A top presidency source said what the country needs is the money and not the names – According to the source, if the names are published those willing to return funds in their possession might not want to do so again The presidency said the names of treasury looters were not published along with the recoveries made in order not to jeopardize the operation. Vanguard reports that the federal government did not want to truncate the cooperation that was already being enjoyed in the drive to recover the looted funds from those willing to return funds in their possession. According to the presidency, while some of those who returned money were not in any way guilty of any offence, publishing the names could deter those contemplating returning the ill-gotten funds in their possession. A top presidency source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the President Muhammdu Buhari-led administration was happy to have recovered as much as $9 billion without going to court. READ ALSO: Breaking: FG releases interim report on financial, assets recoveries The source said: “If you release names, other people who want to do voluntary returns will not do so. What we need is the money and not the names. “Secondly, many of those who returned the money are not necessarily guilty. For instance, if my party gave me money to go and campaign in an election, how am I to know that that money was from an illicit source? “For instance if money is given to a newspaper for publication, you cannot criminalise the newspaper because it did not know where the money came from. If the newspaper returns the money would it be fair to publicise the name of the newspaper. “If you listen to the mob you will just end up in the ditch. The practical thing is that we want more money to come in. And we don’t even know what are the terms of the agreement by which anybody returned money.” The source said those calling for the release of the names got it completely wrong as that would be counterproductive. He said some people would sue the federal government for defamation and libel and the whole essence of recovering loot would be lost as all people would be talking would be about the court cases. READ ALSO: How Obasanjo stopped Buhari from naming looters “That is not what Nigeria needs now. What Nigeria needs now is to be focused and we believe we have taken the right step in letting Nigerians know how much has been recovered, $9 billion without going to court,” the source added. In fulfillment of President Buhari’s promise to make public the details of recovered loot on his first anniversary in office, the federal government released the first set of information cash recoveries totaling N78,325,354,631.82; $185,119,584.61; £3,508,355.46 and €11, 250, from May 29, 2015 to May 25, 2016. Buhari in an interview in London vowed to reveal how much his government had so far recovered from individuals and firms accused of looting the nation’s treasury in his Democracy Day address to the nation. Nigerians waiting for the information were disappointed when the president failed to reveal the figure as promised in his address to mark his one year in office on Democracy Day, May 29. He however, promised that Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information would be publishing the details which he said would be updated periodically.
Read more: https://www.naij.com/850523-recovered-loots-names-treasury-looters-not-released-presidency-opens.html
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