AGF Malami Says Abacha Loot Will Be Returned Soon

AGF Malami Says Abacha Loot Will Be Returned Soon

Attorney general and justice minister Abubakar Malami has announced that the federal government hopes to retrieve $750 million stolen by former president Sani Abacha.

He made the announcement during an interactive session with the House of Representatives Committee on Justice.

He said the government is also aiming to recover £6.9 million (nearly N2 billion) stolen by the former governor of Delta state, Chief James Ibori.

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“In respect of the recovery of looted assets, the ministry will engage in an agree waive policy of using mutual legal assistance agreements or other bilateral and multilateral instruments to seek cooperation with other jurisdictions to ensure the repatriation of illicitly-acquired assets in foreign jurisdictions.

“The collaboration will equally involve the engagement if foreign based counsel will attend to matters on behalf of the federal government.  Low- hanging fruits being targeted in this initiative include $750 million Abacha loot as well as the £6.9 million of the Ibori loot,” Malami said.

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“In the long run, the ministry will be in a position to coordinate the recovery of billions of dollars in foreign jurisdictions, based on current estimations.”

Malami went further and also revealed that the country owes N75 billion in judgment debts.

“It is equally necessary to highlight the fact that the ministry’s current liability for judgment debt is in the region of N75 billion.

“The ministry has however proposed the sum of N16 billion to meet a portion of the outstanding sum in 2016, out of which the budget office has proposed an extremely low sum of N 709,155, 140.00 which does not meet even one percent of the outstanding judgment debts,” he said.

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General Abacha's rule of Nigeria, which came to an end in 1998, remains controversial to this day.

Millions of US Dollars stolen by Abacha have been recovered since his death, including $450 million (just under N90 trillion) seized by the American government in 2014.

Source: Legit.ng

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