FG to sign agreement with US, UK, Jersey to recover $500m loot

The federal government of Nigeria has met with government officials of the United Kingdom, United States of America and Jersey and agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which will lead to the repatriation of $500 million looted from the government treasury by former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha.

According to a report by Vanguard, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, led officials, including Nigeria's High Commissioner to the UK, Justice George Oguntade, to the meeting which took place in London on Monday, June 18, 2018.

Malami said the MoU will be signed by all concerned parties at a final meeting set to take place in July.

The AGF told Vanguard, "At our meeting in London today, we reviewed the MoU to be signed by Nigeria, US, UK and Jersey and made collective input into it so that at our next and final meeting in July we can sign the document and agree on the final draw down of the money.

"Indeed, Nigeria has made tremendous progress regarding the repatriation of the cash. Right now, the case filed by a Nigerian lawyer claiming to be entitled to a huge percentage of the amount from the Abacha loot has been dismissed by the Appeal Court but he can still appeal if he wants to.

"But our strong conviction is that the money will be drawn down for the benefit of the country and we are working hard to ensure that it is done as soon as possible by taking the necessary legal and diplomatic steps to deal with it."

Malami holds separate meeting over another Abacha loot

Vanguard also reported that the AGF left London after the meeting to meet with the Swiss government to discuss the repatriation of another unspecified sum looted by Abacha. This follows the recent repatriation made by the Swiss government to the Nigerian government which the AGF finally confirmed.

Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, revealed in April that the sum of $322,515,931.83 was received into a special account in the Central Bank of Nigeria on December 18, 2017.