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Britain to return £30m looted funds

Posted by Musa Simon Reef, Abuja on 2005/02/03 | Views: 619 |

Britain to return £30m looted funds


Britain said on Wednesday that it was set to repatriate £30million allegedly looted from Nigeria by some public officials.

Britain said on Wednesday that it was set to repatriate £30million allegedly looted from Nigeria by some public officials.

The offer came against the backdrop of assurances of similar repatriation of about $610million dollars traced to Switzerland and some other countries.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, Britain's Minister for Africa, Mr. Chris Mullin, said his country would ensure that all looted funds from Nigeria were returned, to enable the country use such funds for the benefit of the citizens.

He said Britain was willing to help but that Nigeria must take the lead in providing concrete information that would aid the recovery of the funds.

He said, 'Nigeria must beam the searchlight on key cases. Once we have the fact, we will simply wade in to verify all the facts. And if the facts are authenticated, then we will try to ensure that such funds are returned.

'About US$500 million traced to Switzerland would soon be returned to Nigeria. And another $11Omillion said to be in another country will soon be released to the Nigerian government. The British Government is also in the process of returning £30million traced to the Abacha family."

The British official said the United Kingdom was confident that all recovered looted funds would be used transparently. He expressed confidence in the economic reforms spearheaded by the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

About $2.2billion was siphoned under the administration of Gen. Sani Abacha between 1994 and 1998.

Most of the funds were stashed away in Britain, Switzerland, Germany, Channel Islands, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg.

But since President Olusegun Obasanjo was elected in 1999, Nigeria had asked for assistance in repatriating the funds.

In 2003, Swiss authorities returned about $200million to Nigeria following seizure orders on the account of the Abacha family by the prosecutor's office in Geneva.

It was agreed that the late general's family could keep $100million provided that it signed an agreement enabling banks in Switzerland and elsewhere to return to Nigeria, a further $1billion of the alleged looted money.

The disclosure by Mullin on Wednesday was the first significant response by Britain to Nigeria's request for the repatriation of looted funds.

Germany had maintained a close watch on the Abacha family's accounts.

On December 9, 2004 in Neuss, Germany, a son of the late military dictator, Abba, was arrested while allegedly attempting to close an account of which he was a sole holders.

On whether Britain would extend her collaboration with Nigeria to include bringing to trial public officer involved in looting the treasury, Mullin ruled out such a possibility.

He said it was only Nigeria that could initiate the process of beaming the searchlight on alleged looted funds.

'If the Nigerian Government provides us with the facts then we will look into the cases. And once that is established, we immediately commence the process of returning the stolen funds."

Mullin explained that Britain waded into the money laundering charges against Governor Joshua Dariye of Plateau State because the governor was arrested in London. The discovery of nine hundred and twenty million pounds sterling on the governor, according to Mullin, informed Britain's role in the case.

Regarding Nigeria's request that her debt be forgiven, Mullin said his country was favourably disposed to the request. But he added that it is left for Nigeria to convince other creditor nations on the need to forgive the country's enormous debt estimated at US$34 billion.

He explained, 'Britain is convinced that Nigeria's debt cannot be sustained as a result of interest to be paid on these loans. I advise Nigeria to negotiate with other Paris Club members so as to convince other creditor nations.

'Britain is fully in support of debt forgiveness for Nigeria. As long as proceeds from the debt relief would be channelled to improving the welfare of the people and providing other social services in the country.

'We have great confidence in the transparent path the Nigerian government is treading, especially on the issue of ensuring transparency in the country's finance. We will continue to support such reforms aimed at bringing sanity and increasing the prospects of good governance for the country.

'I am happy to state that Nigeria is at the moment encountering brighter chances of ensuring transparent governance for the country. We call on the government to ensure that such reforms are sustained for national development."

Meanwhile, about 300, 000 visas applications from Nigerians seeking to travel to Britain are received annually by the British Embassy. Mullin said the United Kingdom government was doing everything possible to ensure that only genuine persons get the visa applications approved.

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