The United States government has said it will repatriate over $300m worth of assets looted by former leader of Nigeria, Sani Abacha.
The US department of justice said the money was recovered from property stolen by Abacha during his presidency.
Last year a court in Jersey seized more than $267m belonging to former Nigerian dictator, which was laundered into a bank account.
The money was paid into the Jersey Civil Asset Recovery Fund on May 31, 2019 and was to be split between Jersey, the United States and Nigeria.
According to Jersey’s Civil Asset Recovery Fund, a “US Federal Court in Washington DC had previously found that the money” was derived from corruption in Nigeria during the military regime of General Sani Abacha.
The money held by a shell company called Doraville was not accessible in 2014.
But after a five-year legal battle, the money has now been recovered and paid into the Jersey Civil Asset Recovery Fund.
After several discussions between Nigeria and US, an agreement was reached for the stolen funds to be returned to Nigeria.
Nigeria’s government has said the funds will be used to support three infrastructure projects, including an expressway in the south-west, a road in the north and a bridge in central Nigeria.
Mr. Abacha who was in power from 1993 until his death in 1998 was known for laundering state funds to foreign countries.
Abacha has been accused by Transparency International, of looting public funds to the tune of $5 billion during his tenure.
In 2017 the government of Switzerland also announced that it will be returning to the Nigerian government about $321 million from the seizure of assets from Abacha’s family.
The Swiss government said the decision to return the said stolen state fund was as a result of a deal signed with the World Bank as well as with the Nigerian government.
Source: Africafeeds.com
