The US State Department said that the money looted by Sani Abacha and his associates during his 5 year de facto presidency from 1993 – 1998 and hidden banks around the world will be returned to the Nigerian government.
“Rather than serve his county, General Abacha used his public office in Nigeria to loot millions of dollars, engaging in brazen acts of kleptocracy,” Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said in the statement.
U.S. District Judge John Bates in Washington ordered on Wednesday that the funds, about $303 million in two bank accounts in the British offshore center of Jersey and $144 million in two bank accounts in France, frozen by the Justice Department in March, be forfeited to U.S. control. Three accounts in the United Kingdom and Ireland hold at least $27 million, the statement said.
Another $148 million in four investment porfolios in the UK and Ireland has been claimed but is still pending release.
Abacha, who took took power in a coup, died in 1998. Nigeria has been fighting for years to recover his money, but companies linked to the Abacha family have gone to court to prevent repatriation.
Source: Reuters