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The Mail & Guardian (South Africa) May 10/2000
Abacha's stolen millions in British banks by Andrew Osborn
The
Nigerian government is on the track of the late dictator General Sani Abacha's
stashed millions.
BRUSSELS - Hundreds of millions of
pounds stolen by the late Nigerian dictator General Sani Abacha and his
entourage is stashed in bank accounts in London and Jersey, lawyers working for
the Nigerian government claimed yesterday.
The money is allegedly in accounts
belonging to some of Abacha's close family and friends and some former members
of his military government. It is thought to be part of an estimated £2bn
systematically looted from Nigeria's central bank during the dictator's
five-year rule.
Britain is not the only place
where the money is stored - banks in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, the US,
Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Luxembourg are also involved.
Authorities in Switzerland froze
£430m-worth of assets belonging to the Abacha entourage at the end of last
year, and yesterday prosecutors in Luxembourg sequestered around £420m in eight
separate bank accounts.
A Swiss lawyer acting on behalf of
the Nigerian government has contacted the Home Office with a view to freezing
British bank accounts containing money linked to Abacha.
The Nigerian government wants this
money, estimated at more than £300m, returned along with any evidence which can
be used in a case against Abacha's entourage. More than a dozen UK-based banks,
some international and some British, are affected.
The British Home Office yesterday
said that it would neither confirm nor deny that UK banks are holding Abacha
money or whether an investigation into the matter is under way. However, Peter
Hain, the Foreign Office minister with responsibility for Africa, has already
pledged British support in recovering the money.
Abacha took power in a military
coup in 1993 after the newly elected Moshood Abiola had been deposed by a rival
general. He then dissolved political parties, banned demonstrations and
introduced strict media censorship.
A period of fierce repression
followed and in 1995 Abacha ordered the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the
political activist who dared defy him, and seven others. Nigeria was then
suspended from the Commonwealth. The general died of a heart attack in 1998.
"More than two and a half
billion dollars was simply stolen as if from a cash register through a mixture
of fraud, false contracts and commissions," Enrico Monfrini, the lawyer
acting on behalf of the Nigerian government, told the Guardian yesterday.
"We are aware that there is more money out there than we'll ever find.
"The longer we carry on the
more we'll find. It's not just about money, it's symbolic. The current
government wants to show Nigerians and the world that Nigeria exists and is
fighting corruption with all its might."
There are, according to Monfrini,
only two ways the Nigerian authorities can now proceed: Abacha's entourage can
either agree to the confiscation of all monies identified or the investigations
will go on. Nigeria has already reclaimed some £530m-worth of assets taken
during Abacha's rule and is anxious to get more.
In a bizarre twist to the case
Johnnie Cochran, the lawyer who defended OJ Simpson, has been brought in by the
Abacha entourage to help them retain the disputed funds.
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