The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has secretly awarded a multi-billion-naira assets recovery contract to a company and its lawyers.
The firm, Gerry Ikputu & Partners, an estate valuer, which further engaged a law firm, M. E. Sheriff & Co, as its agent, was instructed by Mr Malami to recover identified large expanses of land and buildings said to be belonging to the federal government in 10 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
They will be entitled to three (3) per cent of the worth of every successful recovery, Mr Malami’s letter awarding them the contract, stated with a secrecy clause that bars them from making the details of the work public.
The “confidentiality” clause contained in the award letter prohibits the contractors from publicising or publicly sharing “any issue from this engagement without prior consent of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice”.
But the Asset Recovery Management Unit (ARMU) of the federal ministry of justice, which is to work with the firms in executing the contract, said the “confidentiality” clause in the letter is a mere formality and does not connote “secrecy”.
Mr Malami issued the award letter to M.E Sherriff &Co with an instruction to recover the assets and return them to the federal government within six months.
With the letter dated October 5, 2021, the six months period is due to lapse in April 2022.
The contractors, under the contractual agreement which has an arbitral clause in case of any dispute arising, is expected to give a monthly report on the recovery efforts to the AGF.
Mr Malami also asked them to work with ARMU under the federal ministry of justice.
Credit: Premium Times