The Federal Government says it has received $322.51m from the
Swiss Government as part of looted funds recovered from former Head
of State, late General Sani Abacha.
The Special Adviser, Media and Communications to the Minister of
Finance, Mr Oluyinka Akintunde, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja,
said the government received the money since December 2017.
Akintunde said there was no controversy surrounding the recovery
of stolen funds by the former head of state from the Swiss
Government.
“The minister wishes to dissociate herself and the Federal
Ministry of Finance from recent reports on the Abacha refunds.
“The minister had at no time written any letter to the President
or any member of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on the payment
of lawyers for the Abacha recovery.
“She also refutes the flawed reports of controversy surrounding
the Abacha recovery.
“We wish to state that the sum of 322,515,931.83 dollars was
received into a Special Account in the Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN) on Dec. 18, 2017 from the Swiss Government.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no controversy concerning
the recovery of the Abacha monies from the Swiss Government,” he
said.
Akintunde said the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun,
frowned at a recent report that she objected to the payment of 16.9
million dollars to two lawyers who recovered the Abacha funds.
In 1999, the Nigerian Government hired Mr Enrico Monfrini, a
Swiss lawyer to recover the Abacha loot.
After a successful negotiation by Monfrini, the recovered money
was domiciled with the Attorney-General of Switzerland pending the
signing of an MoU with Nigeria to avoid the issues of
accountability that trailed previous recoveries.
All that was left after the signing of the MoU was a
government-to-government communication for the money to be
repatriated to Nigeria.
However, Abubakar Malami, the Minister of Justice and
Attorney-General of the Federation, later engaged the services of
another set of lawyers in 2016 for a fee of about N6 billion (16.9
million dollars).
The two Nigerian lawyers are Mr Oladipo Okpeseyi, a senior
advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and Temitope Adebayo.
(NAN)
The Federal Government says it has received $322.51m from the
Swiss Government as part of looted funds recovered from former Head
of State, late General Sani Abacha.
The Special Adviser, Media and Communications to the Minister of
Finance, Mr Oluyinka Akintunde, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja,
said the government received the money since December 2017.
Akintunde said there was no controversy surrounding the recovery
of stolen funds by the former head of state from the Swiss
Government.
“The minister wishes to dissociate herself and the Federal
Ministry of Finance from recent reports on the Abacha refunds.
“The minister had at no time written any letter to the President
or any member of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on the payment
of lawyers for the Abacha recovery.
“She also refutes the flawed reports of controversy surrounding
the Abacha recovery.
“We wish to state that the sum of 322,515,931.83 dollars was
received into a Special Account in the Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN) on Dec. 18, 2017 from the Swiss Government.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no controversy concerning
the recovery of the Abacha monies from the Swiss Government,” he
said.
Akintunde said the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun,
frowned at a recent report that she objected to the payment of 16.9
million dollars to two lawyers who recovered the Abacha funds.
In 1999, the Nigerian Government hired Mr Enrico Monfrini, a
Swiss lawyer to recover the Abacha loot.
After a successful negotiation by Monfrini, the recovered money
was domiciled with the Attorney-General of Switzerland pending the
signing of an MoU with Nigeria to avoid the issues of
accountability that trailed previous recoveries.
All that was left after the signing of the MoU was a
government-to-government communication for the money to be
repatriated to Nigeria.
However, Abubakar Malami, the Minister of Justice and
Attorney-General of the Federation, later engaged the services of
another set of lawyers in 2016 for a fee of about N6 billion (16.9
million dollars).
The two Nigerian lawyers are Mr Oladipo Okpeseyi, a senior
advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and Temitope Adebayo.
(NAN)
Read more https://nairalaw.com/abachas-loot-fg-receives-322-51-million-from-switzerland/