US Government freezes $458million Sani Abacha cash

The United States government today March 5th
said it had ordered a freeze on $458 million in
assets hidden in European accounts by former
Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and his
conspirators.
PM News reports that the Justice Department
said the corruption proceeds, stashed away in
bank accounts in Britain, France and Jersey,
were frozen at Washington's request with the
help of local authorities.
Abacha died in office in 1998, but his
surviving relatives still include some of the
richest and most influential figures in
Nigeria.
According to a civil forfeiture complaint
unsealed in the US District Court in
Washington, the department wants the
recover more than $550 million in
connection with the action.
"This is the largest civil forfeiture action to
recover the proceeds of foreign official
corruption ever brought by the
department," said Mythili Raman, acting
assistant attorney general.
"General Abacha was one of the most notorious
kleptocrats in memory, who embezzled billions
from the people of Nigeria while millions lived in
poverty," she said.
The Justice Department said the assets frozen —
along with additional assets named in the
complaint — represent the "proceeds of
corruption" during and after the military regime
of Abacha, who became president of Nigeria
through a military coup on November 17, 1993
and held that office until his death on June 8,
1998.
The complaint alleges that Abacha, his son
Mohammed Sani Abacha, their associate
Abubakar Atiku Bagudu and others "embezzled,
misappropriated and extorted billions from the
government of Nigeria and others, then
laundered their criminal proceeds through the
purchase of bonds backed by the United States
using US financial institutions."
Raman said that the action sends a "clear
message" that the United States is "determined
and equipped to confiscate the ill-gotten riches
of corrupt leaders who drain the resources of
their countries."
The US government's Kleptocracy Asset
Recovery Initiative "where appropriate" provides
for the return of stolen proceeds "to benefit the
people harmed by these acts of corruption and
abuse of office."
It did not specify what action would be taken
with regard to the Abacha case.
The funds frozen include approximately $313
million in two bank accounts in the Bailiwick of
Jersey and $145 million in two bank accounts in
France, the department said.
Four investment portfolios and three bank
accounts in Britain were frozen, with an
estimated value of at least $100 million but the
exact amounts in the accounts have not yet
been determined, it said.
The Justice Department said that on February 25
and 26, authorities in Jersey, France and Britain
complied with the US action to freeze the assets.
The complaint also seeks to freeze five corporate
entities registered in the British Virgin Islands.
According to the complaint, Abacha and others
systematically embezzled billions of dollars in
public funds from Nigeria's central bank on the
false pretense that the funds were necessary for
national security. They withdrew the funds in
cash and then moved the money overseas
through US financial institutions.
Abacha and his finance minister, Anthony Ani,
also allegedly caused the Nigerian government
to buy Nigerian government bonds at vastly
inflated prices from a company controlled by
Bagudu and Mohammed Abacha. That operation
created an an illegal windfall of more than $282
million.
In addition, Abacha and his co-conspirators
allegedly extorted more than $11 million from a
French civil engineering company, Dumez, and
its Nigerian affiliate in connection with payments
on government contracts.
Funds involved in each of these schemes were
laundered through the United States in nine
financial institutions, the complaint alleged.
The financial institutions involved include
Citibank, Chase Manhattan Bank and Morgan
Guaranty Trust Company, now JPMorgan Chase,
and New York-based units of Britain's Barclays
Bank and Germany's Commerzbank.
Last week, at a ceremony to mark the centenary
of Nigeria's formation by colonial lords, the
Nigerian government headed by Goodluck
Jonathan honoured Abacha, along with other
past leaders for services rendered to Nigeria.
Source: PM News

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