Federal Government on Tuesday said the recently repatriated £4.2m looted money by a former Delta State governor, James Ibori, from the United Kingdom has been returned to the Delta State Government.
The Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Ahmed Idris, has confirmed this in Abuja while appearing before members of the House of Representatives.
Idris disclosed this while answering questions from members of the House of Representatives’ Ad hoc Committee on Assessment and Status of All Recovered Loots Movable and Immovable Assets from 2002 to 2020 by Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria for Effective Efficient Management and Utilisation.
The Nation reports that the Accountant-General told the Committee such funds looted from the treasury of a state are always returned to the state.
He added that states can sue the Federal Government to recover such funds.
He informed that, they had in the past paid Plateau and another state where funds were stolen from.
“I know there was a time recovery was made on behalf of Plateau State. There was one for Bayelsa. There was one for different states, even Delta. Such recoveries go specifically to those states.”
When asked by the chairman about the recent Ibori loot received from the United Kingdom. The Accountant General replied, “It has been paid to the state. It was paid to Delta state.”
“Any recovery arising from looted funds from a particular state goes to the state. The state governors would not even allow this to fly.
“They will take Federal Government to court for holding their money. So we don’t joke and we don’t play with that. We pay them their money.”
