The Attorney General of Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami on Monday revealed that the Federal Government has finally received approximately $311,797,866.11 of the late General Sani Abacha loot from the Bailiwick of Jersey and the United States.
The money is part of the several sums looted and stashed abroad by Nigeria’s late former military head of state, Sani Abacha, but being repatriated in tranches back to the country since his death in 1997.
Malami, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Dr. Umar Gwandu, in Abuja, disclosed that the loot was repatriated on April 28, 2020 to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and would be transferred to the National Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) within the next 14 days.
The NSIA is expected to utilize the fund for the execution of the three key projects across the country including the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Abuja-Kano Road and the Second Niger Bridge.
Malami explained that repatriated amount rose significantly from initial $308 million as February this year to $311 million due to the interest accruing to the deposit.
He said the litigation process for the return of these assets titled “Abacha III” began in 2014, while the diplomatic process culminated in the signing of the Asset Return Agreement on February 3, 2020, by the governments of Nigeria, the US and Jersey commenced in 2018.
According to him, “this agreement is based on international law and cooperation measures that set out the procedures for the repatriation, transfer, disposition and management of the assets”.
He explained: “In line with the 2020 Asset Return Agreement, the fund has been transferred to a Central Bank of Nigeria Asset Recovery designated account and would be paid to the National Sovereign Investment Authority within the next fourteen days. The NSIA is responsible for the management and execution of the projects to which the funds will be applied.
“To ensure transparent management of the returned assets, the Nigerian government will also engage a civil society organisation, who has combined expertise in substantial infrastructure projects, civil engineering, anti-corruption compliance, anti-human trafficking compliance, and procurement to provide additional monitoring and oversight.
“The process for the engagement of the CSO monitor has already commenced with the adverts placed in two Nigeria newspapers – Daily Trust and The PUNCH (4th March, 2020 and a Notice of Extension on 17th April, 2020), the Federal Tender Journal (9th and 23rd March, 2020), the Economist (14th March, 2020). The advert can also be found on the website of the Federal Ministry of Justice”, he added.
It would be recalled that the recovered funds were laundered through the US banking system and then held in bank accounts in the Bailiwick of Jersey.
In 2014, a U.S. Federal Court in Washington D.C. ordered forfeiture of 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 Late Gen. Sani Abacha was Head of State.
In 2017, the federal government filed a case in the Bailiwick of Jersey to assert its authority as the owner of these funds and as the victim of the action of Abacha.T
The Attorney General called for greater cooperation and mutual respect amongst countries in the implementation of expeditious cooperation measures already set out in the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and in the implementation of the Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) principles on the repatriation of stolen assets.
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