Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, yesterday, came hard on members of the House of Representatives investigating claims that the country lost over $2.4 billion revenue from alleged illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil exported in 2015 to China.

Malami, who described the ad-hoc committee constituted to investigate the claim as unconstitutional, said the allegation was “baseless, unfounded, and lacks merit and substance.”

Recall that the House had, in December last year, resolved to constitute an ad-hoc committee to probe the allegation, when it adopted a motion sponsored by Isiaka Ibrahim from Ogun State, at plenary.

The committee was also mandated to investigate all crude oil exports and sales by Nigeria from 2014 to date, with regards to quantity, insurance, revenue generated, remittances into the federation accounts or other accounts, as well as utilisation of the revenue for the period under review.

Ibrahim had said in the motion that “a whistle-blower alleged in July 2020 that he had, in July 2015, brought to the attention of a committee purportedly set up by the President for the recovery of missing crude oil exports, the existence of 48 million barrels of Nigeria’s Bonny Light crude oil in storage at several ports in China, under authorisation of the then Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to sell the cargo.”

But speaking at the resumed hearing, yesterday, Malami said the Office of the Attorney General had filed a criminal suit against the individuals who purportedly raised the allegations being investigated by the ad-hoc committee.

According to him, the individuals had attempted to defraud the Federal Government under the guise that the alleged crude oil stolen in China had been recovered.

Malami explained that the ongoing investigation initiated by the House was unconstitutional and sub-judice, adding that prosecution of the petitioners, which started in 2019, suffered setback as a result of series of adjournment caused by absence of the accused.

He said the allegation, in its own right, is devoid of any reasonable ground. He said: “President Muhammadu Buhari informally requested the Attorney-General, making reference to my humble person, Mele Kyari, Lawal Daura, former Director General of the Department of State Services, and the late Abba Kyari to look into it and advise. But unfortunately, for there to be a reasonable ground for suspicion, at least, you require certain basic facts.

“If you’re talking of a product, you cannot establish the substance relating thereto, without confirming the origin of the purported product in China. If you talk about a product in China, is it of Nigerian origin? That can be ascertained by sample and specifications. Is it Bonny Light, for example, which you know emanates from Nigeria?

“The basic details of the existence of the product, and connecting it to Nigeria, was not there at all. If you are talking of a product, the vessel, perhaps, that has taken it, what are the particulars and details of the vessel? They were not available at our disposal at all.