Last Abacha funds go home
2004-08-18 17:00
Geneva - The Swiss government on Wednesday ordered the return to Nigeria of most of the remaining $500m belonging to late dictator Sani Abacha that have been frozen in Swiss bank accounts since 1999.
The Swiss justice ministry said in a statement that it had cleared the restitution after concluding that "the greater part of the $500m are clearly of criminal origin".
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.
Until Wednesday, Switzerland had handed back $200m of about $700m uncovered in Swiss banks, following a long-running investigation into a paper trail stretching across several continents.
Abacha's family and lawyers have 30 days to appeal to Switzerland's Supreme Court against the decision, the Justice Ministry said.
The move had been delayed by the collapse of an April 2002 out-of-court settlement between Nigerian authorities and the Abacha family on the restitution of more than $1bn from several European countries.
But the Swiss justice ministry's decree overcame the need for further legal red tape and a long-delayed legally valid seizure order from Nigeria.
The criminal origin of R7m was found to be "only probable", the ministry said.
But even that amount will be trasferred to an escrow account in Nigeria, although the Nigerian government will have no access to the deposit until is comes up with the required seizure order.
Nigeria's President Olesegun Obasanjo promised last May to use the Abacha funds for development projects, mainly in health care and education.
Swiss authorities said on Wednesday that their diplomats in Abuja would monitor the use of the assets.
During the Swiss end of the probe, a British banker working as an intermediary was fined 400 000 Swiss francs for aiding and abetting money laundering by "Abacha's criminal organisation".
Apart from Switzerland, countries where Abacha assets were uncovered included Britain, the Channel Islands, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg.