Swiss investigators question Abacha's son
2000-09-22 12:02
Lagos - A Swiss judge investigating the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars to Switzerland by the regime of the late Sani Abacha is in
Nigeria and has questioned his son, Mohammed Abacha, officials said on Friday.
Judge George Zecchin arrived in Nigeria earlier this week and met Abacha on Thursday after he was flown to Abuja from Lagos where he is currently detained on unrelated murder charges.
A Nigerian court last month rejected a request from Switzerland to extradite Abacha, the eldest surviving son of the late Nigerian dictator, to face charges over the alleged illegal transfer of
hundreds of millions of dollars to Switzerland by the regime.
Authorities in Switzerland last year froze some $650 million in accounts linked to Abacha. Luxembourg authorities froze another 690 million euros (around $600 million) and authorities in
Lichtenstein froze around $100 million.
The Nigerian government has estimated that around $4 billion disappeared from public funds under the Abacha regime of which around three billion was sent abroad. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA