Another $308 million Abacha loot coming back to Nigeria

BY OUR EDITOR

The governments of Jersey, Nigeria and United States of America have entered into an Asset Recovery Agreement to repatriate over US$308 million of forfeited assets to Nigeria.

This was disclosed in a joint statement by the three countries obtained on Tuesday, by Thisday.

According to the statement, 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 BVI company, and in the name of the son of the former Head of State of Nigeria, Late General Sani Abacha.

It explained that in 2014, a US Federal Court in Washington DC had forfeited the money as property involved in the illicit laundering of the proceeds of corruption arising in Nigeria, during the period from 1993 to 1998, when Abacha was Head of State.

The case was a result of extensive co-operation between the Jersey authorities, the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section of the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with crucial assistance from other governments around the world.

The statement further revealed that at the time, the case was filed as part of the US Department of Justice’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative in 2013, and then was the largest US kleptocracy forfeiture action ever commenced.

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“In 2014 the Attorney General of Jersey applied for, and was granted, a Property Restraint Order over the Jersey bank account balance of Doraville.

“This was challenged in the Royal Court of Jersey and Court of Appeal, and an application for permission to appeal to the Privy Council by Doraville was refused. France and the United Kingdom restrained additional funds at U.S. request.

“General Abacha and his associates stole and laundered many hundreds of millions of dollars of public money during his military regime, doing vast harm to the futures of his own people. The monies were laundered by his family, including his sons Ibrahim and Mohammed, and a number of close associates.

“The laundering operation extended to the United States and European jurisdictions such as the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein and Luxembourg,” it stated.

In addition, the statement revealed that in 2018, governments of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, United States of America and the Bailiwick of Jersey commenced the negotiation of the procedures for the repatriation, transfer, disposition and management of the assets.

It, however, pointed out that the tripartite agreement signed this week represents a major watershed in international cooperation in asset recovery and repatriation, and would provide benefit to Nigerians.

It listed the projects on which the funds would be expended on by the federal government to include the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, stressing that this would be, “independently audited.”

“The Federal Republic of Nigeria will establish a Monitoring Team to oversee the implementation of the projects and to report regularly on progress. The Nigerian government, in consultation with the other parties, will also engage civil society organisations, who have expertise in substantial infrastructure projects, civil engineering, anti-corruption compliance, anti-human trafficking compliance, and procurement to provide additional monitoring and oversight,” it added.

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Commenting on the landmark agreement, Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, who signed on behalf of the Nigerian government noted that the agreement had culminated in a major victory, for Nigeria.

Malami added: “As you are aware, the government of Nigeria has committed that the assets will support and assist in expediting the construction of the three major infrastructure projects across Nigeria, namely: Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Abuja-Kano expressway and the Second Niger Bridge.

“These projects currently being executed under the supervision of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority as a public private partnership (PPP) will boost economic growth and help alleviate poverty by connecting people and supply chains from the East to the West and to the Northern part of Nigeria, a vast area covering several kilometers with millions of the country’s population set to benefit from the road infrastructures.“