U.S. Enters into Trilateral Agreement with Nigeria and Jersey to Repatriate Over $300 Million to Nigeria in Assets Stolen by Former Nigerian Dictator General Sani Abacha
The Department of Justice, on behalf of the U.S. government, has executed a trilateral agreement with the governments of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Nigeria) and the Bailiwick of Jersey (Jersey) to repatriate to Nigeria approximately $308 million traceable to the kleptocracy of former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and his co-conspirators.

In 2014, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates for the District of Columbia entered judgment forfeiting approximately $500 million located in accounts around the world, as the result of a civil forfeiture complaint the Department of Justice filed against more than $625 million traceable to money laundering involving the proceeds of Abacha’s corruption. After appeals in the United States were exhausted in 2018, the government of Jersey enforced the U.S. judgment against over $308 million located in that jurisdiction.

“General Abacha and his cronies robbed Nigerians of vast public resources and abused the U.S. and international financial systems to launder their criminal proceeds,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s landmark agreement returns to the people of Nigeria hundreds of millions of the embezzled monies through a lawful process that ensures transparency and accountability.”

The forfeited assets represent corrupt monies laundered during and after the military regime of General Abacha, who assumed the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria through a military coup on Nov. 17, 1993, and held that position until his death on June 8, 1998. The complaint alleges that General Abacha, his son Mohammed Sani Abacha, their associate Abubakar Atiku Bagudu and others embezzled, misappropriated and extorted billions from the government of Nigeria and others, then laundered their criminal proceeds through U.S. financial institutions and the purchase of bonds backed by the United States. Jersey’s cooperation in the investigation, restraint and enforcement of the U.S. judgment, along with the valuable contributions of Nigeria and other law enforcement partners around the world, have been instrumental to the recovery of these funds.

Under the trilateral agreement signed today, the United States and Jersey will transfer 100 percent of the net forfeited assets to the Federal Republic of Nigeria to support three critical infrastructure projects in Nigeria that were previously authorized by Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian legislature. Specifically, the laundered funds under this agreement will help finance the construction of the Second Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Abuja-Kano road – investments that will benefit the citizens of each of these important regions in Nigeria.

The agreement includes key measures to ensure the transparency and accountability, including administration of the funds and projects by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), financial review by an independent auditor, and monitoring by an independent civil society organization with expertise in engineering and other areas. The agreement also precludes the expenditure of funds to benefit alleged perpetrators of the corruption or to pay contingency fees for lawyers. The agreement reflects the sound principles for ensuring transparency and accountability adopted at the Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) in December 2016 in Washington, D.C., which the United States and the United Kingdom (UK) hosted with support from the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative of the World Bank and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

In addition to the more than $308 million forfeited in Jersey, the Department of Justice is seeking to enforce its forfeiture judgment against approximately $30 million located in the UK and over $144 million in France. The United States is also continuing to seek forfeiture of over $177 million in additional laundered funds held in trusts that name Abacha associate Bagudu, the current governor of Kebbi State, and his relatives as beneficiaries. The United States has asked the government of Nigeria to withdraw litigation it has instituted in the UK that hinders the U.S. effort to recover these additional funds for the people of Nigeria. The United States entered into the trilateral agreement to repatriate the Jersey assets because of its longstanding commitment to recover asset for the benefit of those harmed by grand corruption and because of the important safeguards embodied in the agreement.

This case was brought under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative by a team of dedicated prosecutors in the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section working in partnership with the FBI. Through the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, the Department of Justice and federal law enforcement agencies seek to safeguard the U.S. financial system from criminal money laundering and to recover the proceeds of foreign official corruption. Where appropriate and possible, the department endeavors to use recovered corruption proceeds to benefit the people harmed by acts of corruption and abuse of public trust.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-enters-trilateral-agreement-nigeria-and-jersey-repatriate-over-300-million-nigeria-assets

Seems you are resigning to your fate.

voltron14:
Seems you are resigning to your fate.

You are happy that Bagudu will keep $177 million dollars?This is another set of Abacha loot.
USA is shocked Nigeria is willing to make Abacha front and Buhari best friend Bagudu keep $177 million dollars it is trying to recover for the people of NIgeria.

[/quote][quote author=RuudVanNisteroy post=86900989]
You are happy that Bagudu will keep $177 million dollars?This is another set of Abacha loot.

Why are you guys masturbating on this issue?
FG has denied any agreement to give Bagudu any money.
The money is made for infrastructure

RuudVanNisteroy:

You are happy that Bagudu will keep $177 million dollars?This is another set of Abacha loot.
USA is shocked Nigeria is willing to make Abacha front and Buhari best friend Bagudu keep $177 million dollars it is trying to recover for the people of NIgeria.

I'm happy you are crying


Someone has given you a job, a fool's errand and you are on it.

aremuforlife:

Why are you guys masturbating on this issue?
FG has denied any agreement to give Bagudu any money.
The money is made for infrastructure

Then they should withdraw the lawsuit. This is an additional $177 million dollars. This is man Buhari campaigned to rule Kebbi state.
Buhari loves thieves.

The U.S. government has also “asked the government of Nigeria to withdraw the litigation it instituted in the United Kingdom (UK) that hinders the U.S. effort to recover these additional funds for the people of Nigeria.”

Withdraw kini. Money that there's sharing formula for already. US should just use that money to do owambe for our brothers over there.

It's better than handing it over to re-looters

RuudVanNisteroy:

You are happy that Bagudu will keep $177 million dollars?This is another set of Abacha loot.
USA is shocked Nigeria is willing to make Abacha front and Buhari best friend Bagudu keep $177 million dollars it is trying to recover for the people of NIgeria.

The agreement to give Bugudu the money was signed by Obasanjo of PDP in 2003. The agreement also gives UK court the power to sign off on the transfer of funds to Bagudu. That’s why the Buhari administration tried to fight the agreement in UK court but the US government is advising Nigeria to withdraw the case and honor the agreement.

seunmsg:


The agreement to give Bugudu the money was signed by Obasanjo of PDP in 2003. The agreement also gives UK court the power to sign off on the transfer of funds to Bagudu. That’s why the Buhari administration tried to fight the agreement in UK court but the US government is advising Nigeria to withdraw the case and honor the agreement.

You are far more intelligent to indulge in peddling of falsehood. The Nigerian government is suing for the funds to honour the so called agreement Buhari reached with Bagudu in 2018. The US is blocking it.

It is clearly stated up there that the agreement betwen the US and Nigeria also precludes the expenditure of funds to benefit alleged perpetrators of the corruption or to pay contingency fees for lawyers.

https://www.nairaland.com/5698677/us-opposes-nigerias-plan-hand

NothingDoMe:
Hmmm

If the United States government didn't call them out. They will have chopped with Bagudu and clean mouth.

Buhari is doing everything within his power to prove David Cameron right-smh.

NothingDoMe:
You are far more intelligent to indulge in peddling of falsehood. The Nigerian government is suing for the funds to honour the so called agreement Buhari reached with Bagudu in 2018. The US is blocking it.

It is clearly stated up there that the agreement betwen the US and Nigeria also precludes the expenditure of funds to benefit alleged perpetrators of the corruption or to pay contingency fees for lawyers.

https://www.nairaland.com/5698677/us-opposes-nigerias-plan-hand

That agreement only relates to the $308 million that precludes expenditure of fund to benefit the alleged perpetrators. And does not relate to the additional $177 million dollars, the USA also wants to same conditions applied to,which the Nigerian government is refusing to co-operate on.
They were hobnobbing with the mega-thief Bagudu and even campaigned for him to be Governor of Kebbi, much to suprise of the British and Americans.

aremuforlife:

Why are you guys masturbating on this issue?
FG has denied any agreement to give Bagudu any money.
The money is made for infrastructure

There is another one lodged in Bagudu's name.

famouscargo4u:


There is another one lodged in Bagudu's name.

Don't mind the brainless Zombies. This is a completely different loot in Bagudu name.

aremuforlife:

Why are you guys masturbating on this issue?
FG has denied any agreement to give Bagudu any money.
The money is made for infrastructure

This is not the first repatriation they will claim is meant for infrastructure. They have collected billions in past and shared them out as bailout funds. The bailout funds have been further relaundered out of the country. Do what Femi Falana has been doing over the years, and ask govt at federal and state level to publish accounts of the monies received from loot reptariation. They are will not publish it, even though it is public money and there should be no secrecy attached to it.

The promise to apply this incoming money to projects is false.

Meanwhile, bureau de change should be scrapped. They are the outlet through which money is taken out.

[/quote][quote author=RuudVanNisteroy post=86901261]
Then they should withdraw the lawsuit. This is an additional $177 million dollars. This is man Buhari campaigned to rule Kebbi state.
Buhari loves thieves.

Do you expect Buhari to reject the man after he won the primary election.
He was brought forward for Buhari to endorse him, never forget that the man has been exonerated from all crime by the previous government

That is SE/SS money o.

aremuforlife:

Do you expect Buhari to reject the man after he won the primary election.
He was brought forward for Buhari to endorse him, never forget that the man has been exonerated from all crime by the previous government

99% of Nigerians looters have been exonerated and never charged despite looting $582 billion dollars since 1960. Everyone in the country knows Bagudu was Abacha main front for laundering money billions of dollars to different countries.. So if Anini and Shina Rambo won primaries they would have also been brought forward and Buhari will have campaigned for them.

MetaPhysical:

Do what Femi Falana has been doing over the years, and ask govt at federal and state level to publish accounts of the monies received from loot reptariation. They are will not publish it, even though it is public money and there should be no secrecy attached to it.

The promise to apply this incoming money to projects is false.

Meanwhile, bureau de change should be scrapped. They are the outlet through which money is taken out.

SERAP got a court order for them to publish what they did with the past looted funds, but they refused to obey the court.
http://saharareporters.com/2016/05/30/recovered-loot-judgment-serap-commences-contempt-suit-against-fg-others

It will never be well with all BMC. Look how they gradually trying to spin this story to make their grand patron bubu a form of saint

Just look at the anti-corruption story falling!

Whoever you see fighting corruption is very likely fighting for his/her turn or Avenue for his friends to cheat.

Ok

careytommy37:
It will never be well with all BMC. Look how they gradually trying to spin this story to make their grand patron bubu a form of saint

BlackfireX:
That is SE/SS money o.

They packaged kingpin of corruption Buhari a saint with integrity. Every lie has an expiry date.

omowolewa:
Just look at the anti-corruption story falling!

Whoever you see fighting corruption is very likely fighting for his/her turn or Avenue for his friends to cheat.

100