Britain repays Abacha millions
2003-12-24 09:27
London - Britain has repaid £3m to Nigeria believed to belong to the late dictator Sani Abacha and frozen by the Foreign Office since 1998, a leading British newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Britain repaid the money last week to Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission which had threatened legal action and accused London of failing in efforts to track down Abacha's alleged billions worldwide, the Financial Times said.
The money was seized by British customs officers from Alhaji Daura, a businessman who arrived at Heathrow airport in 1998 and who was accused in Nigeria of being a courier for Abacha.
Britain's Foreign Office, said the Financial Times, accepted that Daura was probably "linked in some way" to the Abacha clan, adding that the repayment was intended to support anti-corruption programmes and other reforms.
While the decision was largely welcomed in Abuja, Nasir El-Rufai, minister for Nigeria's federal capital territory and a close associate of President Olusegun Obasanjo, told the newspaper that the country expected more co-operation to follow.
Britain's Financial Services Authority has estimated the country's banks processed $1.3bn linked to Abacha between 1996 and 2000, the newspaper said.
El-Rufai dismissed Britain's attempts to portray the repayment as a contribution to anti-corruption efforts.
"The British may give it any spin they want."
"But the truth is the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was about to embarrass them," he said.
Abacha, who died in 1998, is suspected of having looted the Nigerian treasury to the tune of about $2.2bn when he ruled Africa's most populous nation from November 1993 to June 1998.