Switzerland and Nigeria discuss return of $300 million
stolen by Abacha
Tue Jan 12, 2016 2:44pm GMT
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By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA Jan 12 (Reuters) - Authorities in Switzerland are in
talks to arrange the return to Nigeria of $300 million confiscated from the
family of its former military ruler, Sani Abacha, Nigeria's foreign minister
said.
The corruption watchdog Transparency International has
accused Abacha of stealing up to $5 billion of public money during his five
years running the oil-rich nation, from 1993 until his death in 1998.
Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said $700 million had
already been repatriated from Switzerland, adding that he met Swiss
representatives last week for further talks.
"They have also now recovered, in the same context,
another $300 million of which there is ongoing discussion to have that
repatriated as well," he told journalists on Monday.
In 2014, Nigeria and the Abacha family reached an agreement
for the West African country to get back the funds, which had been frozen, in
return for dropping a complaint against Abba Abacha, the son of the former
military ruler.
He was charged by a Swiss court with money-laundering, fraud
and forgery in April 2005, after being extradited from Germany, and
subsequently spent 561 days in custody. In 2006, Luxembourg ordered that funds
held by the younger Abacha be frozen.
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office in
May, has made tackling corruption a priority. He has asked the Britain and the
United States for help recovering money stolen from Africa's biggest economy by
some of the country's elite over several years. (Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram,
editing by Larry King)
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