Ikoyi Whistleblower Rejects N235 Million Payout

Ikoyi Whistleblower Rejects N235 Million Payout

The whistleblower that informed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of the equivalent of N13 billion recovered at an Ikoyi apartment has vowed to reject the N235 million being offered by the government as compensation.

Yakubu Galadima, the lawyer for the whistleblower, said his client will not accept anything below five percent commission.

“If you blow the whistle and the government recovers cash, you are entitled to between 2.5 percent and five percent. The maximum limit is five percent,” he said.

“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.”

But when asked if his client would accept anything less than five per cent, Mr Galadima said, “Not at all.”

He said last week that the commission his client was expecting from the Federal Government was N860m and not N325m.

He had also stated that the commission should be paid based on the exchange rate at the time the money was recovered and not the current one.

Officials in the ministry said that the whistleblower was expected to be paid before the end of this month, Punch reports.

However, it was gathered that while the ministry was ready to make the payment, the move could be delayed as administrative work was still ongoing on the issue.