Switzerland agrees to return $321m of Abacha loot to Nigeria under World Bank brokered deal

SWITZERLAND has agreed to return $321m to Nigeria representing a significant chunk of the amount it seized from former military dictator General Sani Abacha after the two countries agreed a deal with the World Bank.

Between 1993 and 1998, General Abacha ruled Nigeria with an iron fist and it is believed he siphoned as much as $5bn from the state coffers. A lot of this money has been traced to Switzerland and over the years, some of it has been returned with successive Nigerian governments demanding everything be handed over.

In 2014, Nigeria and the Abacha family reached an agreement for the  country to get back the funds, which had been frozen, in return for dropping a complaint against the former military ruler’s son Abba Abacha. He was charged by a Swiss court with money-laundering, fraud and forgery in April 2005 after being extradited from Germany and later spent 561 days in custody.

In 2006, Luxembourg ordered that funds held by the younger Abacha be frozen. Now, the Swiss government said that it, Nigeria and the World Bank have agreed the funds will be repatriated via a project supported and overseen by the global financial body.

A World Bank spokesman said: “The project will strengthen social security for the poorest sections of the Nigerian population. The agreement also regulates the disbursement of restituted funds in tranches and sets out concrete measures to be taken in the event of misuse or corruption.”