Ikoyi 13B Recovery: Whistle-blower blows hot on FG, rejects N325m, insists on N860m 5% commission

Galadima had stated that the commission his client was expecting from the Federal Government was five percent of the total recovered fund, N860m.
 

The famous whistle-blower, who notified the EFCC of the $43m, N23.2m and £27,800 (N13bn) recovered from an Ikoyi apartment has rejected a N325million offer from the FG insisting on his five percent commission of N860m.

In a report by Punch, the whistle-blower's lawyer, Yakubu Galadima made this known as he said his client will not accept anything below the constituted five per cent commission.

When asked if his client would accept anything less than five per cent, he said, “Not at all.”

Last week, Galadima had stated that the commission his client was expecting from the Federal Government was five percent of the total recovered fund, N860m.

Stack of foreign currencies found in luxurious Ikoyi apartment

The lawyer also stressed that his client's commission should be paid with the exchange rate at time of recovery and not when commission was released.

Whistle-blower commission policy

Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, the Secretary of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, has explained that any whistle-blower, who helped the government to recover anything above N1bn would receive less than five per cent commission.

Professor Owasanoye

Owasanoye, who was part of the team that drafted the whistle-blower policy recently said, “If you blow the whistle and the government recovers cash, you are entitled to between 2.5 per cent and five per cent. The maximum limit is five per cent.

“According to the policy, if you blow the whistle and it is below N500m, you get four to five per cent because the higher the amount that is recovered, the lower the percentage that is given. This is the global best practice.

“If the recovery is between N500m and N1bn, you get three to four per cent (commission). If it is N1bn and above, it is 2.5 per cent. Indeed, there is a clause that we included in the policy to say that the government may determine the amount to be awarded based on other criteria provided that the amount to be awarded doesn’t exceed five per cent. In other words, the government may actually pay less than 2.5 per cent but nobody can be paid more than five per cent.”

However, the Ikoyi whistle-blower’s lawyer told SUNDAY PUNCH on Saturday that his client would not accept anything less than five per cent.

The Ikoyi famous whistle blower has been at dagger drawn with the EFCC and FG through his lawyer, Galadima, over his commission.