Nigeria
has reportedly concluded its negotiations with Switzerland over the
return of $321 million loot recovered from Sani Abacha.
through Treasury Single Account (TSA) and the Bank Verification Number (BVN). He stated also that Nigeria had saved trillion of naira through these processes.
General Sani Abacha
Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of Federation and Minister of
Justice, has revealed that negotiation with Switzerland on the return
of $321 million recovered from the late Abacha family had been
concluded, adding that Nigeria recently recovered $85 million from the
controversial Malabu Restrained Funds from United Kingdom.
According to Premium Times, Salihu Isah, Special Adviser, Media and
Publicity to Mr. Malami said the attorney general stated this in his
opening remarks at the Pre-Global Forum on Asset Recovery, GFAR,
Consultative meeting with the theme: Building an Ending Framework for
Asset Recovery in Nigeria on Thursday in Abuja.
Mr. Malami stressed further that with the conclusion of
negotiation, the Memorandum of Understanding will be signed by parties
at the Global Forum on Assets Recovery meeting coming up on December 4
to 6 in Washington and that the repatriation would follow within weeks
as agreed by the parties.
He affirmed the need for the international community to ensure the
implementation of the measures considered and adopted at the London
Anti-Corruption Summit in May, 2016.
The AGF also emphasised that Nigeria is more than willing to support the transparent return of stolen assets.
He equally urged the international community to improve on
procedure for faster return of assets to enable Nigeria meet the
sustainable development goals.
“It is widely acknowledged that corruption undermines economic
development, political stability, rule of law, social development,
disrupts social order and destroys public trust in the governance
system. It is an established fact that corruption which is linked to
organised crime, terrorism and insecurity is one of the reasons for
underdevelopment,” he stated.
Mr. Malami reiterated that resources and funds meant for
development of infrastructure in education, health and security sectors,
among others had been stolen and laundered in different parts of the
world.
The minister further reaffirmed that President Muhammadu Buhari in
May, 2015 made a commitment to tackle corruption and equally focused on
the return of stolen assets from various jurisdictions and that Nigeria
had set a clear targets towards improving transparency in the management
of assets
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through Treasury Single Account (TSA) and the Bank Verification Number (BVN). He stated also that Nigeria had saved trillion of naira through these processes.
Subsequently, under the United Nations Convention Against
Corruption implementation mechanism, Nigeria was Peer Reviewed in May,
2017 by Myanmar and Cote D’Ivoire in the first year of the second cycle
which covers areas of Preventive Measures And Asset Recovery.
Nigeria has also implemented the United Nations Convention Against
Corruption requirement through the development of National Strategy on
Anti-Corruption and currently reviewing the anti-corruption laws, also
the government has signed the Open Government Partnership initiative and
completed the National Action Plan for its practical implementation in
Nigeria, he said.
He added that he was pleased that the Civil Society Organisations
were involved in the negotiation of the Memoranda of Understanding and
would also be involved in monitoring the use of the funds.
Earlier in his welcome address, David Ugolor, Director, African
Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, noted that Global
Forum on Asset Recovery established as an outcome of the London 2016
Anti- Corruption Summit hosted by former British Prime Minister, David
Cameron, would build upon the experiences of the Arab Forum on Asset
Recovery, AFAR, and the Ukraine Forum on Asset Recovery, UFAR.
According to him, “the core objective of GFAR is to convene
practitioner experts to provide an effective opportunity for countries
to cooperate on asset recovery cases.
“It also tries to highlight the importance of strong political
commitment, multi-jurisdictional coordination and practitioner
interaction.
“Its inaugural meeting will focus on assistance to four priority countries; Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Ukraine.”
He urged the international community to work the talk by fulfilling
some of the commitments made during the London summit, which had direct
implication for anti-corruption in Nigeria.
“We are eager to see how these commitments would translate to
an expeditious return to Nigeria, assets belonging to Nigeria stashed
away in the UK, US and other countries,” the ANEEJ boss added.
Mr. Ugolor identified the need for Nigeria to evolve a new national
asset recovery design to stem the illicit financial transactions still
going on in our national dealings and seek a way to possibly overhaul
the existing anti-corruption agencies to grapple with the antics of
fraudsters.
He said, “Without any shade of doubt, it is obvious that we
need new national asset recovery architecture to deal with the multiple
challenges facing our country today.
“The anti-corruption agencies will need to explore more
creative strategies to respond to the new large scale indices of
corruption in both the public and private sectors.”
We need to strengthen our legal and institutional anti-corruption
systems through the introduction of innovative legislative agenda.
“The Proceeds of Crime Bill and other anti-money laundering
reform bill deserves urgent attention, particularly with the increasing
reports of the looting of public resources.”
Giving their remarks, the British Ambassador to Nigeria, Paul
Arkwright, Swiss Ambassador, Eric Mayoraz and Michael Bonner, Senior
Police Advisor who represented the U.S. Ambassador in their remarks,
commended the Nigerian government for collaborating with Civil Society
Organisations to fight corruption and in tackling illicit financial
flows.
They pledged the support and cooperation of their home countries in
repatriating stolen funds stashed away in banks at their countries back
to Nigeria in due course.
On his part, Kole Shettima, Director MacArthur Foundation, also
praised the government for getting interest groups on board for the
asset recovery drive, but wished that other parties like the Nigerian
movie industry known as Nollywood as well as the media among others are
involved to be all encompassing.
Mr. Shettima expressed that he do not want a situation where
Anti-Corruption war would be seen as President Buhari or government
fight, but to be seen as the fight for all Nigerians.
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