Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, SAN has set up a five-member Committee to investigate and verify the authenticity of the alleged claims of a syndicate selling the government’s recovered property.
Malami disclosed this in a statement by Dr Umar Gwandu, his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations on Tuesday in Abuja.
“It is important to set the records straight that the office of the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has not officially started the sale of the Federal Government’s recovered property.
“The Honourable Minister did not approve, did not order, and was not aware of, the sale of any of such property”.
He said that the composition of the members of the committee was made known in a circular signed by the Solicitor General of the Federation U. E. Mohammed, ESQ dated Nov. 29, 2021.
The circular was titled “The Constitution of a Committee to investigate the alleged sale of Federal Government of Nigeria’s Property by a syndicate in the Ministry”.
“A committee is hereby constituted to investigate the allegation with a view to unravelling the veracity or otherwise of the Publication” the circular reads in part.
The Committee which is Chaired by the Director, Public Prosecution of the ministry, is to unveil the veracity of the publication and recommend ways of handling the matter in accordance with the provisions of extant laws.
According to the circular, the committee is expected to complete the assignment within a period of one week and submit the report of its findings to the Solicitor General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice.
Malami, therefore, called on the public, especially those who interacted with the alleged syndicate group or have information or possess any evidence to open up and provide information that could be helpful to the committee in discharging its responsibility.
“The Secretariat of the Investigation committee can be contacted at the office of the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Justice which can be reached within one week from December 1, or via email: investigation.committee@justice.gov.ng