ABUJA, - The Federal Government has recovered £22.5m (about N6.18 billion) loot
from the family of the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.



There are plans to recover $400million more, it was learnt yesterday.

The money is stashed away in the tiny Island of Jersey from where the £22.5m was recovered two weeks ago.

Jersey is an Island off the coast of Normandy, France.

Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guemsey are often referred to as the channel of Islands.
They are not part of the United Kingdom (UK), but the UK is constitutionally responsible
for the defence of Jersey.

Although not part of the European Union, Jersey is treated as a member for the purposes of free trade in goods.

The latest recovery adds to the millions of dollars and pounds recovered from the family
of Gen. Abacha, who died 13 years ago.

It was gathered that the loot was recovered by a three-man negotiating team, led by Attorney-General of
the Federation Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN). The team visited the Island.

Damien Dodo (SAN) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Secretary Emmanuel Akonmaye
were on the delegation.

A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “Gen. Abacha stashed the funds through a Lebanese.

“When the Office of the AGF was alerted by a whistle-blower, the government opened discussions with the
Attorney-General of the Island of Jersey, who cooperated fully with the government, leading to the repatriation of the £22.5m.

“An agreement was signed with Adoke’s team and the loot has been repatriated to the Federal Government’s treasury.”

The source, however, added that in the process of repatriation of the N6.18billion, $400million was uncovered.

The source added: “Again, the AG of the Island of Jersey has offered to cooperate with the Federal Government to repatriate the $400million.

“We will soon start negotiation with the government of Island of Jersey.”

The Abacha family is said to be panicky over the government’s fresh moves.

It was gathered that the family was shocked by the return of the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

A source said: “Some members of the family have not been comfortable since the return of Mrs Okonjo-Iweala,
who facilitated the repatriation of over $600m stashed away by the family in Switzerland.

“As if to underscore her determination to repatriate more looted funds, Okonjo-Iweala even wrote a letter
of commendation to AGF Adoke to encourage him to help relocate more of Abacha loot in other parts of the world.

“Some members of the Abacha family have been meeting with some government officials to prevail on the government for reprieve.”

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the National Seminar on Economic Crimes, held at the EFCC Training
School in Abuja yesterday, the AGF alluded to the recovery of the looted fund, but did not give details.

He said: “Only recently, we negotiated the recovery and repatriation of the sum of £22.5m from the Island
of Jersey, being the proceeds of money laundered from Nigeria.

“I wish to seize this opportunity to commend the Attorney-General of Jersey for the support and co-operation
we received and urge other jurisdictions to also extend to us the much-needed cooperation to enable us repatriate
stolen assets within their jurisdictions.”

Adoke said: “We also intend to vigorously pursue stolen assets and the confiscation of other instrumentalities of
crime within the country by strengthening our confiscatory and forfeiture laws.

“In this regard, we have commenced work on a comprehensive Assets Forfeiture legislation that will address the
present inadequacies in our various laws.

“The Nigerian Proceeds of Crime Act and Bribery Act are also in the pipeline. What these legislative interventions
portend for Nigeria is that we are actively responding to global initiatives to make corruption a high-risk venture
that is ultimately not rewarding.

“Other notable initiatives that we have embarked upon at the Federal Ministry of Justice is the drafting of
Regulations to give effect to the Terrorism (Prohibition) Act 2011 to aid the effective prevention and prosecution
of terror-related acts and the Regulations to give effect to the Freedom of Information Act 2011.”



http://ascology.com/news/local-news/19857-recovers-N618b-looted-funds-from--leader-Sani-Abacha.html