P&ID: FG asks banks for Johnathan, Diezani, others statement of account

The federal government has asked for the bank account statements of some former public office holders from 10 foreign and local banks on the controversial Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) Ltd gas deal

Among those affected by the request are former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience; former ministers of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke and  Dr. Rilwanu Lukman, who died on July 21, 2014.

The banks, which the details are required from are Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and New York branches of Deutsche Bank AG and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc.

Nigeria is requesting that “all documents concerning any transactions, to, from, or for the benefit” of Jonathan and his wife between 2009 and the present day, the attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) has said.

Malami said that the information contained in the document would help an ongoing investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to know individuals in the Process & Industrial Developments Ltd gas deal.

Although Malami didn’t mention Jonathan as a subject of the EFCC probe, the former president’s name appears alongside the ex-ministers in Nigeria’s proposed subpoenas.

Jonathan in a statement he issued last night in Abuja, said that the search for a foreign bank account in his name is an exercise in futility.

According to his spokesman, Ikechukwu Eze, Jonathan’s commitment to the Nigeria project is total.

Eze said that the former president has no foreign account anywhere in the world.

He said: ‘’We aver that the Federal Government of Nigeria did not contact Dr. Jonathan or his wife before issuing these subpoenas. If they had, we would have advised them of the fact that you cannot subpoena what does not exist.

‘’We also remind the public that on March 5, 2014 during the swearing in of new ministers, then President Jonathan said ‘I am loyal to Nigeria’s economy. I don’t have accounts or property abroad’.

‘’We are confident in stating that between that time and now, nothing has changed with regards to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. He has no accounts in the United States of America, and encourages US authorities to cooperate fully with the Federal Government of Nigeria’s subpoena.

‘’We would also like to state that during his tenure as president of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan extended every courtesy to former presidents and heads of state, because he believed and still believes that promoting, projecting and protecting Nigeria’s sovereignty and image is the paramount duty of her government, because it is not possible to belittle Nigerians without belittling Nigeria.

‘’Finally, we state that the signing of the P&ID contracts preceded the Jonathan administration and that that government gave appropriate counsel to the incoming government in the handover notes of 2015, which advice, if carried out, would have prevented the current unfortunate circumstances,’’ he said.