PETER CAPELLA, Geneva | Thursday
NIGERIA has reached a landmark deal on the restitution of more than one billion dollars embezzled by the late dictator Sani Abacha, the Swiss authorities and Nigerian government lawyers said on Wednesday.
Under the terms of the out-of-court settlement, the Nigerian government “has agreed to release to the Abacha family about $100-million, which the family acquired prior to Abacha’s term of office and which, according to the Nigerian authorities, demonstrably do not derive from criminal acts,” the Swiss justice ministry said in a statement.
It added that the Nigerian authorities will drop criminal proceedings abroad against members of the Abacha family who took part in the out-of-court settlement, in return for the transfer to Nigeria of the bulk of Abacha assets currently frozen abroad.
The settlement, covering most of the embezzled assets traced in Europe, involves more than one billion dollars. The exact amount will depend on fluctuations in investment values, according to Enrico Monfrini, the senior lawyer for the Nigerian government.
“It brings the money home to Nigeria, avoiding many years of painful litigation,” said Monfrini, although he said some “technical details” still had to be worked out.
The settlement followed a meeting in Geneva on Tuesday between lawyers for the Nigerian government and the Abacha family, as well as officials from Britain, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland, the main banking centres where Abacha accounts were frozen.
“All the parties will now cooperate toward the restitution of the assets,” the Swiss justice ministry statement said.
In Vaduz, capital of the tiny Alpine principality of Liechtenstein, the government said local banks would be returning to Nigeria $120-million out of some $210-million of funds blocked in relation to the Abacha claim.
Nigeria had applied to Liechtenstein, a popular international banking centre with liberal tax laws, in June 2000 to have the funds frozen.
“The largest part of the Abacha assets blocked in foreign countries, in excess of one billion US dollars, is to be transferred to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel, in favour of the Nigerian government,” it added.
In return criminal proceedings abroad against one of Abacha’s sons, Mohammed, and a London-based Nigerian businessman, Abubakar Bagudu, will be dropped, according to Monfrini.
Mohammed Abacha was facing charges of money laundering, participation in a criminal organisation, embezzlement and fraud in Switzerland.
He is in jail in Lagos, where he has been standing trial since 1999 on a murder charge, but Monfrini emphasised that the settlement had no bearing on that domestic prosecution.
Nigeria accused the late dictator’s family and associates of helping to plunder more than $2,2-billion in Nigerian state assets and transferring most of the money abroad.
“All the money in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg will go back,” Monfrini said.
“There is only petty cash in Britain now,” he added.
In recent years lawyers acting for Abuja uncovered a money trail throughout the world, largely thanks to documents supplied by Nigerian investigators.
But moves to freeze accounts and have the money returned to Nigeria proved difficult, as the Abacha family fought rear-guard legal action in several countries, and variations in the money laundering laws of the countries involved threw up barriers.
Switzerland was a preferred destination for the Abacha family. More than $675-million of suspected Abacha deposits were frozen in Swiss banks over the past three years, though some of the funds were subsequently released.
Under the deal, Switzerland will return about $535-million, authorities said.
They said judicial assistance proceedings against Abdulkadir Abacha, the late dictator’s brother, would continue and a further $90-million related to his case would remain frozen in Swiss bank accounts.
Monfrini called the settlement ground-breaking.
“It’s historical because it’s the first time any country, developed or developing, sees the return of money that was looted by a head of state — it failed with Duvalier, Mobutu, Milosevic and even Marcos.”
He has not ruled out further moves to recover Nigerian assets elsewhere. – AFP