The suspended chairman of the
Last week, Mr Malami announced
He was detained for about 10 days before his release.
After his arrest, allegations that
In
"This false allegation is most unfortunate, spiteful, malicious and intended to cruelly destroy my hard-earned reputation," the official said. "Contrary to the allegations contained in paragraph (A-5X) of the petition, I know as a fact and verily believe that not a dime of the recovered funds was fraudulently converted to my personal... I challenge my accuser to produce evidence of such fraudulent conversion."
"In the exercise of my official functions as acting Chairman of the Commission, I have stepped on toes in ensuring that corruption is fought to a standstill in
"I have never abused the office I am occupying at the pleasure, Mr President. I have never personally enriched myself whilst performing my official function. I challenge my accuser to produce any evidence of this purported personal enrichment," he said.
'Flawed audit'
He said he was never invited to defend himself before the committee made its findings public.
"It is the international best practices in audit to have an entry and exit meeting. During the exit meeting, parties are expected to thoroughly review and reconcile documents/data to enable the auditee to present necessary explanations to clear any grey area.
"Contrary to the established international best practice and the principle of fair hearing as enshrined in section 36 of the 1999
"That I was not invited by the Committee to defend myself and the Commission before the purported findings were made. That fair hearing demands that I should not be indicted without being heard.
"The existing structure in the EFCC on the recovery of assets and the management of same will not allow any form of mismanagement of recovered asset to be perpetrated. In the Commission under my watch, funds are recovered vide bank drafts in favour of the Commission and lodged in the recovery accounts domiciled with the
"Sir, even when cash is recovered during execution of search warrant, such funds are meticulously counted, kept in safe custody of the Exhibit Keeper and lodged in the recovery account."
He said he was not a signatory to the accounts and "has never approved any withdrawal from the recovery accounts for his personal benefit".
He also denied that he converted foreign currencies recovered from suspects to naira.
"The EFCC has always reported, as a matter of standard practice and procedure, foreign currency discovered and not their naira equivalent," he said.
Mr Malami did not answer or return calls seeking his comments for this story.
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