SUSPECTED looters now bury cash in forests and cemeteries, the Federal Government claimed on Sunday.
It said the anti-corruption agencies had been inundated with information on how looters resorted to hiding funds, suspected to have been stolen, in their backyards, deep forests and burial grounds.
Information, Culture & Tourism Minister Lai Mohammed, in a statement in Lagos on Sunday, said the whistle-blower policy was achieving the desired results.
According to him, the policy has led to the recovery of more looted funds in many currencies.
The minister said all the recovered funds were safe and that the government will give full account to Nigerians.
Thanking Nigerians for their enthusiasm and commitment in helping the government to tackle corruption through disclosure of useful leads to appropriate government agencies, Mohammed said: “Since we launched the whistle blower policy, we have received immeasurable support from Nigerians.
“Yes, there is monetary reward for any information that leads to recovery of looted funds, but from what we have seen; most of the Nigerians who have come forward with useful leads were driven by patriotism rather than reward.
“Nigerians, fired by a fervid resolve to help banish corruption from their country, have daily inundated the offices of the appropriate government agencies with valuable information.
“We have been told how looters have resorted to burying stolen funds in their backyards, in deep forests and even in burial grounds.
“Thanks to whistle-blowers, it is now clear that a rapacious few have pillaged the nation’s wealth through a vicious orgy of corrupt practices,” he said.
The minister, however, noted that more funds were in the possession of looters than were available to government at all levels to meets its obligations including paying workers’ salaries and providing social amenities.
He stressed that the government will not abandon the policy for whatever reason, but will continue to rejig it and make it more effective as an anti-corruption tool.
The minister assured that as soon as the necessary reconciliation process and the litigation in some of the cases were concluded, government would give full account of the recovered looted funds to Nigerians.
He re-assured Nigerians who have useful information on looted funds that the government will protect their identities and give them their stipulated reward.
THE NATION
