By Deborah Onyofufeke
In a fresh move, the Federal Government yesterday disclosed that a further $23.4m loot allegedly traced to the late military dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha, was being returned from the United States.
The late military Head of State died 24 years ago.
The government announced that it signed an agreement with the US government on the return of Mecosta/Sani Mohammed assets, otherwise infamously known as ‘Abacha loot’.
Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, announced in Abuja, that Nigeria and US had ‘come together to sign an agreement for the repatriation of the $23,4m, being assets reportedly looted by Abacha.
The agreement was signed on behalf of the Federal Government by the AGF, while the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, penned the deal for her country’s government.
The signing was done at the Federal Ministry of Justice headquarters in the nation’s capital.
Before the signing of the agreement, Malami had revealed that, since 2016, Nigeria’s ministry of justice, the United Kingdom National Crime Agency (UK NCA), as well as the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ), had been actively collaborating with the legal representatives of the Nigerian government, to finalise aspect of the litigations related to the Abacha-linked assets.
With the endorsement of the agreement, Malami further explained that a UK high court had granted the NCA a registration and recovery order, on July 21, 2021, which was sealed by the court, on August 4, 2021.
The AGF’s words, “The forfeited Mecosta/Sani assets were subsequently transferred to the NCA, which on February 7, 2022, held the sum of $23,439,724, pending the execution of the asset return agreement between the FRN and the USA.
“In line with the agreement, which was a result of the cooperation of the UK NCA, USDOJ, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the use of the funds for the ongoing presidential development infrastructure funds (PIDF) projects, which include the Abuja-Kano road, Lagos-Ibadan expressway, and the Second Niger Bridge, which are being supervised by the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).
“The president’s mandate to my office is to ensure that all international recoveries are transparently invested and monitored by civil society organisations to complete these three projects within the agreed timeline.”
Malami urged the US government not to relent in supporting Nigeria’s commitment to speedy and transparent management of returned assets.
*Over $334.7m repatriated so far from America
In her remarks, Ambassador Leonard said the US Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seized the stolen funds concerning Abacha and his associates over violation of the US laws when they laundered the funds through the US into accounts in the UK.
She said, “This repatriation brings to a total amount of funds repatriated in this case by the US to more than $334.7m. As a result of today’s agreement, $23m will be transferred to the Nigerian government, which through the NSIA, will be used to continue the construction of three key infrastructural projects located in strategic economic zones of the country.”
The US envoy pointed out that corruption disrupts the economy and access to key services, hinders development, pushes citizens towards extremism, and makes countries and their officials susceptible to malicious foreign interference.
She, therefore, said that the US government would deny a haven for corrupt actors and their assets.
“As a partner deeply invested in Nigeria’s success, we will continue to do our part to facilitate the recovery and return of the proceeds of corruption to the Nigerian people”, the US Ambassador to Nigeria added.
*Twists and turns
President Muhammadu Buhari, it was initially reported, had once insisted that Abacha ‘never stole’, and was not corrupt.
This position, however, was said to be the case before Buhari was elected president.
In April 2016, Buhari had been reported to have ‘stubbornly insisted’ that Abacha never stole, and that he was not corrupt.
“Illegally taken from Nigeria’’ is a ploy to sidestep the word: “stolen”. “Under Abacha” portrays it as if other people, not Abacha himself, committed the “illegality” without Abacha’s knowledge,” a commentator wrote in a column in a Nigerian daily.
But in a tweet on April 27, 2016, Buhari reversed his position, saying, “Nigeria is awaiting receipt from the Swiss Govt of $320 million, identified as illegally taken from Nigeria under Abacha.”
According to a report, monies recovered from Abacha’s loot were principally stashed away in four major countries: Switzerland, Jersey Island in the UK, the US, and Liechtenstein.
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It said during the succeeding Abdulsalami Abubakar’s government in 1999, $750m was recovered.
During President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration between 1999 and 2007, Nigeria was also said to have recovered $1.2bn in 2002; $149m from Jersey Island, UK in 2003; $500m recovered in 2004 from Switzerland, and another $458m recovered in 2005 from Switzerland.
When Goodluck Jonathan was in power, $1bn was reportedly recovered in 2012 and $380m in 2015, both tranches from Switzerland. The Jonathan administration also reportedly recovered $227m from Liechtenstein in 2014 and $48m from the US in the same year.
The Buhari government, another report added, “despite its stubborn denial that Abacha was a corrupt dictator, recovered $322m from Switzerland in 2017 and $308m from Jersey Island, UK in February 2020.
“In 2014, the Abacha family agreed, forfeiting several billions of dollars to the Nigerian Government, following plea bargaining to drop charges against the son of the late dictator.”
