Ikoyi recovery: Whistleblower to get compensation this month – Adeosun

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, has said the whistleblower who provided the tips that led to the recovery of funds stashed away in a property in Ikoyi, Lagos State, will soon be paid.
Adeosun stated this on Sunday in a statement by her spokesman, Oluyinka Akintunde.
The statement was sequel to the position of the whistleblower, through his lawyer, Yusuf Galadima, on Friday that he was yet to be paid, contrary to the meaning read into a press release by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The EFCC had quoted its Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, as saying in Vienna, Austria that the whistleblower had become a millionaire, giving the impression that he had been paid.
However, Galadima said his client was yet to be paid, with another development that he had been detained on three occasions by security agents.
Speaking on Sunday through Akintunde, Adeosun said the Federal Government has not withheld any fund due to any whistleblower.
She said the Ministry has in place detailed procedures for processing payments due under the Whistleblower Policy, adding that the procedures were designed to prevent abuse and legal disputes and to ensure protection of the information providers.
Adeosun added: “These procedures include an application by the agency who recovered the funds including evidence of the recovery, confirmation that there are no pending legal issues on the recovery, verification of the identity of the information provider, calculation of the amount payable and computation of relevant taxes.
“It must be stated also that payments are made in monthly batches to ensure control and to protect the identity of information providers. To date, over 20 of such persons have been paid. From available records, the payment due on Ikoyi is among those being processed in the November batch, which will be released within the current month.”
Adeosun said the Whistleblowing Policy of the Federal Government remains one of the current Administration’s successful initiatives and that the Government is fully committed to ensuring that all those who responded to the policy and partnered with Government in the recovery effort are paid in full and most importantly have their identity protected.
The Whistleblower Policy was introduced in December 2016 by the Federal Government as part of the initiatives to wage war against corruption.