[osint] Switzerland Repatriates $458m to Nigeria

Thu Feb 17 09:34:06 PST 2005

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From: "Bruce Tefft" <btefft at community-research.com>
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Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 11:06:28 -0500
Subject: [osint] Switzerland Repatriates $458m to Nigeria
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http://allafrica.com/stories/200502170075.html

Switzerland Repatriates $458m to Nigeria

This
<http://allafrica.com/publishers.html?passed_name=This%20Day&passed_location
=Lagos>  Day (Lagos)

February 17, 2005
Posted to the web February 17, 2005

Kunle Aderinokun
Abuja

FG to start drawing funds in March

The Federal Government yesterday announced that the Swiss government has
approved the repatriation of $458 million, being bulk of the $505 million of
public fund stashed away in various private bank accounts in that country by
the late General Sani Abacha and his family.

Making this disclosure yesterday in Abuja at the instance of Swiss
Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Pierre Helg, Finance Ministe Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
said the fund will be transferred into the International Bank for Settlement
(BIS) in Basel, Switzerland, and that Nigeria will be able to withdraw the
money by the end of March this year.

Okonjo-Iweala, who said the Swiss authorities did not attach any condition
for the repatriation of the siphoned monies, said the release was sequel to
the judgment of the Swiss Federal Court, which ruled that the "Swiss
authorities may return assets of obviously criminal origin to Nigeria even
without a court decision in the country concerned."

The finance minister said President Olusegun Obasanjo since assumption of
office had vigorously and relentlessly pursued return of the funds with the
help of the National Security Adviser and herself.

Noting that with this development, Switzerland has earned a positive status
as the first country to return funds illegally placed by the Abacha family,
Okonjo-Iweala said "the Federal Government is indeed grateful to the
government of Switzerland for the principled and focused manner in which it
has pursued this just cause."

"We hope that the Swiss example at both the political and judicial level
will show the way for other countries where our national resources have been
illegally transferred. Switzerland's policy on this issue is a clear sign
that crime does not pay. Nigeria is ready to work with other governments to
achieved the repatriation of other funds which were siphoned out of the
country illegally," she added.

She recalled that Obasanjo had on behalf of the administration made a
commitment to the Swiss government that the Abacha loots will be used for
developmental projects in health and education as well as for infrastructure
(roads, electricity and water supply) for the benefit of Nigerians.

"This", she pointed out, "is of course, very much in keeping with the
priorities of the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy
(NEEDS), the nation's blue-print for reducing poverty, creating wealth and
generating employment."

She stated that after receiving the assurances of the Swiss authorities that
the funds will be released , the federal government had "decided to factor
most of the Abacha funds into the 2004 budget so that the urgent challenges
of providing infrastructure and social services to our people would not be
delayed. This is to ensure that our programmes which are on-going are
adequately funded."

According to her, the Federal Government had distributed the recovered $505
million looted funds in the 2004 budget as: rural electrification,
$170million (N21.70billion); priority economic roads, $140 million
(N18.60billion); primary health care vaccination programme, $80 million
(N10.83 billion); support to secondary and basic education, $60 million
(N7.74 billion); and portable water and rural irrigation, $50 million (N6.20
billion).

In his remarks, the Swiss ambassador to Nigeria, Helg said "Switzerland
possesses an efficient set of legal instruments to defend itself against the
inflow of illegal assets, and to recognize, block and return them to their
rightful owners." He noted that "the recent decision of the Federal Supreme
Court will strengthen the deterrent effect of Switzer-land's legal mechanism
against potential future inflows of illegal capital."

He added that "the decision strengthens the Swiss position regarding the
restitution of funds of politically exposed persons, which is: Switzerland
has no interest in accepting illegal funds. It's financial center does not
provide for a safe haven for illegal money, which should primarily be used
for the benefit of the people of the country in question. The point must
again be made that Swiss banking secrecy is not an obstacle to the
investigation of criminal acts and to the international efforts to combat
crime."

He said Switzerland has received assurances from Obasanjo and Okonjo-Iweala
that the returned funds will be channeled to the areas of health (fighting
HIV/AIDS), education and infrastructure in the 2004/2005 fiscal period.

"The funds will be used within the framework of the Nigeria national
strategy to implement the United Nations Millennium Goals. The Nigerian
government has given assurances of transparency in the use of the funds and
is in agreement to the full inspection of the relevant accounts. Switzerland
has an interest in preventing the funds from being recycled for criminal
purposes.

"For this reasons, it has agreed with Nigeria to place control on projects
financed by the Abacha's assets. These controls are expected to be carried
out by the World Bank. The exact modalities are in the process of being
established. Nigeria has given its consent to allowing civil society to play
an appropriate role in this monitoring project," he said.

The Abacha family had relentlessly waged legal battles to stop the release
of the funds. But the Swiss Federal Court last week, ruled in favour of the
repatriation of the monies back to Nigeria.

The Swiss authorities have investigated bank accounts linked to the Abacha
family for over three years since the Nigerian government accused the late
leader of looting up to $3 billion from state coffers during his rule from
1993 until his death in June 1998.

Last month, one of the Abacha sons, Abba, was arrested in Neuss, Germany
when he attempted to close an account. He was accused of money laundering,
fraud and breach of trust, and Swiss authorities sought his extradition from
Germany to assist them in the course of their investigations.

Nine Swiss banks were reportedly investigated during the period. The first
restitution of $200 million from the Abacha funds in Switzwerland was in
2003.

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