Abacha loot: FG concludes negotiation with Switzerland over return of $321m – AGF

Andrew Orolua, Abuja.

The Attorney-General of Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) has said that the federal government has concluded negotiation with Switzerland for the return of $321million recovered from the late Gen Sani Abacha family.

He added that Nigeria had recovered $85million from the controversial Malabu Restrained Funds from United Kingdom.

Malami stated this in his opening remarks at the Pre-Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) Consultative meeting with a theme titled: “Building an Ending Framework for Asset Recovery in Nigeria” on Thursday in Abuja.

Malami said that with the conclusion of negotiation, the Memorandum of Understanding will be signed by parties at the Global Forum on Assets Recovery meeting coming up on December 4th – 6th, 2017 in Washington and that the repatriation would follow within weeks as agreed by the parties.

He affirmed the need for the international community to ensure the implementation of the measures considered and adopted at the London Anti-Corruption Summit in May, 2016.

The AGF also emphasised that Nigeria is more than willing to support the transparent return of stolen assets. He equally urged the international community to improve on procedure for faster return of assets to enable Nigeria meet the sustainable development goals.

“It is widely acknowledged that corruption undermines economic development, political stability, rule of law, social development, disrupts social order and destroys public trust in the governance system. It is an established fact that corruption which is linked to organised crime, terrorism and insecurity is one of the reasons for underdevelopment”, he stated.

Malami reiterated that resources and funds meant for development of infrastructure in education, health and security sectors, among others had been stolen and laundered in different parts of the world.

The Minister further reaffirmed that President Muhammadu Buhari in May, 2015 made a commitment to tackle corruption and equally focussed on the return of stolen assets from various jurisdictions.

According to him, Nigeria had set a clear targets towards improving transparency in the management of assets through Treasury Single Account (TSA) and the Bank Verification Number (BVN). He stated also that Nigeria had saved trillion of naira through these processes.

Earlier in his welcome address, Rev. David Ugolor Director, African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) noted that Global Forum on Asset Recovery established as an outcome of the London 2016 Anti- Corruption Summit hosted by former British Prime Minister, David Cameron would build upon the experiences of the Arab Forum on Asset Recovery (AFAR) and the Ukraine Forum on Asset Recovery (UFAR).

According to him, “the core objective of GFAR is to convene practitioner experts to provide an effective opportunity for countries to cooperate on asset recovery cases.”