By Anita
More than $20.6 million worth of assets connected to the late Gen. Sani Abacha, a former head of state, and his accomplices have been recovered by the US Department of Justice (DoJ).
The DoJ in a statement on Thursday, November 17, 2022, said that the transfer of funds “is in accordance with an August 23 agreement between the governments to repatriate assets the United States forfeited that were traceable to kleptocracy of the former Nigerian dictator.”
“The forfeited assets represent corrupt monies laundered during and after the military regime of General Abacha, who became head of state in Nigeria through a military coup on Nov. 17, 1993,” the statement read.
The amount that the US has forfeited and returned in this case totals about $332.4 million, according to a statement posted on the DoJ website.
The funds were transferred in response to a 2014 District of Columbia judgment ordering the forfeiture of approximately $500 million in assets linked to the former dictator.
The forfeited assets is corrupt money that was laundered during and after the military government of General Abacha, who took power on November 17, 1993, and remained in power until his death on June 8, 1998.
The complaint in the case claimed that Abacha, his son Mohammed, their associate Abubakar Bagudu, and others stole billions of dollars from the government coffers and other sources, extorted money from other people, and then laundered their illicit gains through US financial institutions and transactions.
