The National Crime Agency (NCA) of the United Kingdom has recovered $23.5million siphoned out of Nigeria in the 1990s by associates of former Nigerian Head of State, General Sani Abacha.
In a statement, the crime said the funds form part of a larger pool of monies identified by the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) as having been misappropriated by Abacha and his associates.
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Acting on a request from the USDOJ, the NCA pursued nearly seven years of protracted litigation and international negotiation to obtain the recovery order, to enforce the US forfeiture order relating to the recovered monies.
The funds have now been transferred to the Home Office for onward transmission to the USDOJ.
“The NCA is committed to ensuring that the UK is not a safe haven for criminals to launder their proceeds of crime, and civil recovery of assets is a powerful weapon in this fight,” the statement read.
“We work closely with UK and international partners to tackle the threat posed by corruption, which disproportionately impacts the poorest and most vulnerable members of society. We are committed to ensuring that those who perpetuate corruption do not benefit from their actions,” Billy Beattie, Asset Denial Senior Manager at the NCA, said.
The NCA case is ongoing with further monies having been identified by the USDOJ as having also been misappropriated by Abacha and his associates.
Abacha ruled the country from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last coup d’etat in the military history of Nigeria.
In 2006, about $723 million in Abacha loot was returned to Nigeria from Switzerland but according to Transparency International, the use of the recovery was largely unaccounted for.
The former military head of state is thought to have stolen between three and five billion dollars, the majority of which came from Nigeria’s oil resources.
The President Muhammadu Buhari government is yet to react to the latest discovery.
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