Nearly 15 years after the death of General Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s
former military ruler, the Swiss Government has said that it has so far
returned to Nigeria the sum of $700 million stolen by the late dictator
and deposited in several Swiss banks.
The Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Hans-Rudolf Hodel, announced the figure at a media briefing in Abuja on Tuesday.
Hodel also hinted that his country had begun proceedings in Geneva
against one of Abacha’s sons -Abba, for allegedly sponsoring a criminal
organization but did not give further details.
The envoy explained also that in the last 15 years, Switzerland has
returned about $1.7 billion of illicit money to their countries of
origin including Angola, Peru, Nigeria and the Philippines.
The briefing was in respect of an international seminar by the
Switzerland embassy and the Inter-Governmental Action Group against
Money Laundering in West Africa, GIABA, and Combating the Financing of
Terrorism.