News24.com | EXPLAINER | Why the US is sending 'Abacha loot' back to Nigeria

This picture dated 30 August shows Nigerian President General Sani Abacha at the last session of the summit meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja.

• More than R360 million looted during the rule of late military dictator Sani Abacha will be returned to Nigeria.
• The money will be used for public infrastructure development.
• The money was traced back to Abacha, his son, Mohammed Sani Abacha, and their associate Abubakar Atiku Bagudu.

About US$20.6 million (R360 million) linked to the regime of late Nigerian dictator General Sani Abacha will be repatriated for the completion of three infrastructure development projects in the west African country.

The money, also known as the "Abacha loot", had been frozen by the United States.

Abacha was a Nigerian military officer who was head of state from 1993 until he died in 1998 after he came into power via a coup. His role in coups in the country's history could be traced back to the July 1966 countercoup, which was the second in the history of Nigeria.

During his time, Nigeria experienced corruption on an industrial scale, and in August 2014, the United States Department of Justice announced the forfeiture of US$480 million (R8.2 billion) located in accounts around the world.

Over the weekend, the US Department of Justice announced that "under the agreement signed in August, the United States agreed to transfer 100% of the net forfeited assets to Nigeria to support three critical infrastructure projects in Nigeria that were previously authorised by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian legislature".

The projects

The Second Niger Bridge is being undertaken by the Ministry of Works and Housing, in collaboration with the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority.

On its website, it's stated that the bridge would "ease traffic flow, road safety, and create greater opportunities for local residents by advancing the commercial viability of the immediate area and regenerating economic life".

The website read: 

The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is a 127.6-km highway connecting Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, and Lagos, Nigeria's largest city. Initially commissioned in August 1978 by Olusegun Obasanjo, who would later become president, it's the oldest expressway in the country.

Its reconstruction is being done by construction company Julius Berger Nigeria and Reynolds Construction Company Limited for US$800 000 (R13.8 million). It was commissioned by then-president Goodluck Jonathan in 2013.

The last project is the Abuja-Kano Road, also being constructed by Julius Berger Nigeria.

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The road is one of the country's most important highways.

Julius Berger Nigeria said the road enabled "the movement of people and products from the north to the south and vice versa – thereby uniting the Nigerian people and economy, and connecting Nigeria to north Africa via the Lagos-Algiers Trans-African Highway".

Conditions

According to the US Department of Justice, key accountability and transparency measures are part of the agreement, including the administration of the funds and projects by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, independent financial auditing and oversight by an independent civil society organisation with engineering and other relevant expertise.

The agreement outlaws the use of money to support corrupt officials or to cover attorneys' contingency fees.

It is in line with guidelines for ensuring accountability and transparency adopted at the Global Forum on Asset Recovery, which the US and the United Kingdom hosted in Washington, D.C. in December 2017, with assistance from the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative of the World Bank and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Context

The money seized by the US was laundered during General Abacha's military rule in Nigeria. Abacha, his son Mohammed Sani Abacha, their associate Abubakar Atiku Bagudu and others are accused of embezzling, misappropriating and extorting billions of dollars from the government of Nigeria and other parties.

According to the complaint, they used US financial institutions and transactions to launder their illicit gains.

Nigeria and international law enforcement partners, including from the US, made significant contributions to the investigation and enforcement of the US decision.

The figures

A civil forfeiture complaint for more than US$625 million (R10.7 billion), that could be linked to money laundering with the proceeds of Abacha's corruption, led to a judgment ordering the forfeiture of about US$500 million (R8.6 billion) that was found in accounts all over the world in 2014.

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More than US$311.7 million (R5.3 billion) of the forfeited assets, found in the Bailiwick of Jersey, were returned by the US State Department in 2020.

The US court judgment against the remaining R360 million (US$20.6 million) was executed by the UK government last year.

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