The United States says there is a separate $319m (N121bn) Abacha loot in the United Kingdom and France, just days after helping to repatriate $311m (N118bn) stolen by the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.
This was contained in a statement by the US Embassy in Nigeria on Wednesday.
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The embassy said that there is $167m in stolen assets in France and another $152m in the UK which is being challenged in court.
The statement said:
The funds returned last week are distinct and separate from an additional $167m in stolen assets also forfeited in the United Kingdom and France, as well as $152m still in active litigation in the United Kingdom.
It was gathered that the repatriation of the $152m (now $155m due to interest) is being challenged by the UK and the US because of alleged plans by the Federal government to give $110m of the money to Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu, known to be an associate of the late military leader.
Nigeria, under the terms of a 2018 deal, is seeking the approval of a UK court to take ownership of the assets before returning 70 per cent of the proceeds to Bagudu.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami has, however, denied entering a deal with Bagudu even though court papers say otherwise.
According to a motion filed by Bagudu’s brother, Ibrahim, to the District Court for the District of Columbia in the US capital on March 30, the UK government’s National Crime Agency is also “opposing the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s application.”
In February, the US Department of Justice said that its Nigerian counterpart is hindering its efforts to recover the allegedly laundered money from the UK.
The US Department of Justice said that Bagudu was part of a network controlled by Abacha that “embezzled, misappropriated and extorted billions from the government of Nigeria.”
The President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is said to be prevented from assisting America’s ongoing forfeiture efforts by an agreement between Bagudu and a previous government in 2003, while successive Nigerian governments have repatriated billions of dollars looted by Abacha, who died in office in 1998.
During his five-year rule, Abacha is estimated to have stolen as much as $5bn.
