Nigeria to recover $300m stolen by its former military ruler (1993 – 1998)

The money was laundered through US banks and held on Channel Islands under the name of ex-military ruler’s son.

The United States and the British crown dependency of Jersey have agreed with Nigeria to repatriate more than $300m in funds connected to former Nigerian military ruler General Sani Abacha, the three governments said. Abacha allegedly stole the money from public funds. 

Abacha’s family members, who have never admitted or denied that funds were stolen, could not be reached for comment, and their present whereabouts are not known.

Abacha ruled Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, from 1993 until his death in 1998. Corruption watchdog Transparency International estimates he stole as much as $5bn of public money during that time.

He was never charged with corruption during his life, and Nigeria has been fighting for years to recover the money.

Companies linked to the Abacha family have gone to court to prevent repatriation, alleging infringement of their rights to a fair trial.

The governments of Nigeria, the US and Jersey, which is one of the Channel Islands between Britain and France, said in a statement they had entered into an asset recovery agreement to repatriate forfeited assets to Nigeria.

The Nigerian government pegged the total amount at $321m. The funds were laundered through the US banking system and then held in bank accounts in Jersey in the name of Doraville Properties Corporation, a British Virgin Islands company, and in the name of the son of the ex-military ruler, they said.

“This agreement has culminated in a major victory for Nigeria and other African countries as it recognises that crime does not pay and that it is important for the international community to seek for ways to support sustainable development through the recovery and repatriation of stolen assets,” Nigerian Attorney General Abubakar Malami said.

Nigeria has been working with governments around the world in recent years on an asset recovery scheme to help repatriate its stolen funds to boost its finances. The government did not state how much in total it believes Abacha stole.

As of 2013, Nigeria had recovered about $1.3bn of Abacha’s money from various European jurisdictions, with more than a third of that from Switzerland.

The Swiss government in 2017 said it would return to Nigeria about $321m in assets seized from Abacha’s family via a deal signed with the World Bank.

Abacha’s laundering operation extended to the US and European jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and Luxembourg, the statement said.

In a separate news release, the US Department of Justice said it is seeking to enforce forfeiture judgments for approximately $30m in assets located in the UK and more than $144m in France.

In 2014, a US court forfeited the money as property involved in the illicit laundering of the proceeds of corruption arising in Nigeria during the five years when Abacha was head of state. Negotiations for repatriation commenced in 2018.

The funds would be administered by Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund and would be used to develop road infrastructure that will boost supply chain connections and economic growth, Malami said.

source: Aljazeera