Lagos lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) has explained how the governments of the United States of America, Switzerland and Britain have illegally prevented the repatriation of the remaining Abacha loot to Nigeria from the vaults of banks in western countries. In an article, Mr. Falana said the promise of the US and Switzerland to the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to facilitate the loot recovery have been met with a breach, which he described as immoral. He noted that former British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron, who described Nigeria as “fantastically corrupt” did not accede to President Buhari's request to recover and repatriate Nigeria’s looted wealth from the United Kingdom. Aside from this, he observed, the US has continued to frustrate the legal proceedings filed by Nigeria in Jersey, United Kingdom, for the recovery and repatriation of the remaining Abacha loot worth $300m. The government of Switzerland, he also noted, imposed a conditionality for repatriating the sum of $321 million in its custody to Nigeria. Though the US and Swiss authorities keep telling Nigerians that discussions on the repatriation are in progress, Falana said claims to such discussions were conceived to mislead Nigerians. A scrutiny of the roles of both countries, he contended, indicates that they are frustrating the recovery efforts. At a conference to mark the International Anti-corruption Day in Abuja on 8 December, Falana said he accused the authorities of the two countries of frustrating the legal proceedings initiated by Nigeria for the recovery and repatriation of the remaining Abacha loot. Mr. David Young, the Deputy Chief Mission of the United States Embassy in Nigeria, Falana recalled, responded to the accusation by saying: “We have legal processes that we have to go through in order to recover these stolen assets, but we are committed and involved in dialogue with the Nigerian government to move forward in this effort.” While agreeing that the US is committed to the recovery of the Abacha loot, Falana said it has trenchantly opposed the repatriation of the loot to Nigeria. As evidence of his claim, Falana pointed to the erection of hurdles in the path of Nigeria towards the recovery of $300million Abacha money held by either of Doraville, a company controlled by the Abacha family or associates or the Viscount in Jersey (Channel Island). The Nigerian government, the lawyer noted, had adopted a variety of strategies to freeze, recover and repatriate monies stolen by the former military ruler, the late General Sani Abacha and his associates. “In particular, legal proceedings have been filed in many courts, including a criminal complaint in Switzerland, and requests for mutual legal assistance (MLA) to various European nations. “Others include claims in England (both in the Commercial Court and the Chancery Division) directly against inter alia Mohammed Sani Abacha (“Abacha”) and Abubakar Atiku Bagudu (“Bagudu”), together with companies associated with them, including Doraville Property Corporation (“Doraville”). “The various English proceedings were settled after both Abacha and Bagudu entered into agreements with Nigeria to bring about the repatriation of the various assets to Nigeria. These assets include the monies held by Doraville,” Falana said. As part of Nigeria’s overall strategy, he said, the Federal Government requested for mutual legal assistance from the US. The requests, he explained, were made to ensure that the full resources of the international community were available to enhance Nigeria’s efforts at recovering the loot and other assets in accordance with the provisions of the UN Charter Against Corruption (Convention). “The MLA Request was made on 28 August 2012 in accordance with the provisions of the Convention. The request was made in the belief that the USA would give priority consideration to returning any confiscated funds to Nigeria on the basis that the country was both the requesting Source : sahara reporter
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