BY BODE GBADEBO, Abuja

The Ministry of Justice has denied the payment of N5.3billion judgement debt without due process, saying  the disbursement of the fund followed laid down procedure.

The Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC) had last week accused the Solicitor-General of the Federation, Dayo Akpata, of disbursing N4.16billion judgement debts vote without due process while demanding for the outstanding N1.1billion of the fund.

But the Ministry in a written response to the Senate Committee, said that a total sum of N1.1billion was spent on the payment of judgement debts in 2018.

The Ministry explained that the balance of N1.17billion was carried forward to 2018 from the 2017 budget to pay off the outstanding debts of N1.1bn.

The Ministry further explained that only five companies benefited from the judgement debt payments.

The Ministry said: “A total sum N1.18billion only was spent on the payment of judgement debts in 2018. The balance of N1.17billion was carried forward to 2018 and the difference of N1.19 milion was made to pay off the outstanding judgement debts.”

The Ministry also included evidence of disbursement of the N1.1bn in the written documents sent to the Senate panel.