Court Denies Malami Bail Amid EFCC Probe

The legal woes of the former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, deepened on Thursday as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court rejected his application for immediate release from the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). In a ruling that underscored the gravity of the ongoing investigation into the former minister’s tenure, Justice Babangida Hassan held that Malami’s current detention is neither arbitrary nor illegal, citing a valid and subsisting court order that justifies his continued stay with the anti-graft agency.

The decision comes at a time of heightened tension between the former chief law officer and the commission he once supervised. Malami, who has been in detention following his invitation for questioning on November 28, is at the center of a complex investigation involving allegations of money laundering and abuse of public office. Central to the EFCC’s interest is the fate of approximately $490 million in recovered Abacha loot, which the agency claims was secured through a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) during the previous administration. Reports indicate that Malami’s international passport remains in the custody of investigators to prevent him from leaving the country while they untangle the financial trail of the recovered assets.

Despite the court’s refusal to grant him bail, Malami has remained defiant, dismissing the charges against him as “baseless, illogical, and wholly devoid of substance.” In a vigorous defense of his record, the former minister argued that the recovery of the specific funds in question was actually finalized before he even stepped into office in 2015. He maintained that the process was concluded by a Swiss lawyer, Enrico Monfrini, and that the current administration’s probe is a misdirected attempt to criminalize standard diplomatic and legal recoveries. Malami has characterized the investigation as a politically motivated vendetta, pointing to what he describes as procedural inconsistencies in how the EFCC has handled his case.

The court’s ruling today effectively keeps Malami in the EFCC’s facility for the foreseeable future as the agency seeks to solidify its case. Legal analysts suggest that the denial of bail indicates the court’s recognition of the “flight risk” or the potential for interference in a high-stakes investigation involving nearly half a billion dollars in public funds. As the former AGF prepares his next legal move, the focus of the Nigerian public remains fixed on the transparency of the recovery process and whether the “Abacha loot” saga will finally reach a conclusive judicial resolution. For now, the man who once sat at the pinnacle of Nigeria’s justice system finds himself on the other side of the bars, awaiting his day in a court that has, for today, sided with his accusers.