The United States of America has decided to return to Nigeria about $480m (N95bn)
considered to have been stolen by the late head of state, Gen.
Sani Abacha and his family.
The Nation reports that the conditions for the
return of the money are still being discussed.
The Department of Justice in the US launched a Kleptocracy Unit, which will help to
track looted funds and money diverted by public officials from
Nigeria and other
nations.
The scheduled repatriation is the result of the recent meeting between the
Department of Justice and the Attorney-General of the
Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) and the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission
( EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu.
“This is the largest loot ever traced to a
former Nigerian public officer in the U.S,” said a source who asked to be anonymous.
“The DOJ, the AGF and the EFCC have concluded all the talks; we are
in the process of repatriation of the $480million.
“Although there are interventions from private lawyers, the DOJ prefers a
government-to- government deal.
“ I can tell you that the funds will soon be
repatriated. If there is anything left, it has to do with the
conditions which the US will attach to the utilisation of the funds.
“The US is likely to advise on specific areas to spend the funds
on and the project
monitoring mechanisms. It
does not want the cash re-looted.”
“The Federal government and the U.S. on January 14, 2003 signed the
Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal
Matters between the two nations.
So, no corrupt public officers from Nigeria can hide in the US.
“At the session with AGF and the EFCC boss, they told the Nigerian
team that the
DOJ now has Kleptocracy Unit which is closing tabs on Political Office Holders
and other public officers in this country and
many other nations.”
The USA had during the last years launched
forfeiture proceedings
against the Abachas.
The transactions made it realizable for the Abacha family and its
companions to confiscate over $550million and £95,910 in 10 accounts and six
investment portfolios linked to them in
France, Britain, British Virgin Islands and the
United States.
The Criminal Division of the Office of International Affairs of the US Department of
Justice, in a letter
to the Federal Government, identified
the accounts where Abacha loot was hidden.
The department underlined the accounts where Abacha loot was
hidden: Doraville
Properties Corporation –
$287 million in Account Number 80020796 located at Deutsche Bank International
Limited in the Bailiwick of Jersey; HSBC
Fund Administration
(Jersey) – $12 million in account number S-104460 in the Bailiwick of Jersey; and
Rayville International, S.
A – $1 million in
account number 223405880IUSD
at Banque SBA in
Paris, France.
Others are Standard Alliance Financial Services Limited – $144
million in account 223406510PUSD at Banque SBA in Paris; Mecosta Securities – $21.7 million in
accounts 10030688 and
100138409 at Standard Bank in the United
Kingdom; and HSBC Bank Plc – $1.6 million in
account number 38175076.
Also listed are Blue Holding (1) Pte Ltd/ Ridley Group Limited –
£6,806,900; Blue
Holding (2) Pte. Ltd/ Ridley Group Limited –
£21,846,983; Blue Holding (1) Pte.
Ltd/ Ridley Group
Limited –£10,293,343.58; Blue Holding (2) Pte. Ltd/Ridley Group Limited –£56,962,996.26.
The Swiss government has in March this year
confirmed that it
has so far repatriated $723 million (about
N142.43 billion) of stolen funds taken from the
family of late Abacha to the Nigerian government over the last 10 years.
Only the government of
the ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo has
been able to record the
highest amount of US$ 1.25 billion from the Abacha loot.
The above regime of General Abdulsalami
Abubakar and the succeeding government of the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua
could not do much in this regard, however,
the efforts also made.
SOURCE: https://uzopedia.wordpress.com/2016/04/18/good-news-usa-will-return-huge-part-of-abacha-loot-to-nigeria/
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