“For the US, the only impediment is a Nigerian lawyer who has been constituting a threat to the repatriation of the funds,” Malami told The Nation.
‘Nigerian lawyer in US preventing return of $480M,’ AGF says
According to Malami, the lawyer has instituted legal processes to stop the return of the money and is demanding to be paid 40 percent of the funds.
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“He has filed many court processes in the past few years demanding 40 per cent of the amount involved. He relied on a purported court injunction granted him in the last 14 years. Over the period of 10 years, the matter had gone through processes.
“At a point, he did not even have licence to operate in the US. His filings have been of concern to the US and the Federal Government. We are looking at the possibility of concluding the process at a Court of Appeal in the US,” he added.
Malami also said that Switzerland is preparing to return $132million also looted by Abacha.
Switzerland has returned $723million in looted funds to Nigeria in the last 10 years.
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