Foreign countries return money stolen during and after the Abacha years
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Foreign countries have between March 2021 and May 2022 returned to Nigeria £6,324,627.66 (N3.2 billion) stolen during and after the Sani Abacha years, federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Abubakar Malami has disclosed.
He also said the Muhammadu Buhari administration in its first 18 months secured over 1,000 convictions in terrorism related cases and in another 312 criminal cases.
Malami was speaking at a ministerial briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Villa in Abuja, where he gave a score card of his office.
He said the government generated N1.82 billion from the sale of bid forms and actual sale of forfeited properties in the first 18 months of the Buhari administration.
The recovered N3.2 billion loot has since been disbursed into infrastructure projects across the country, he added, listing them to include the Second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kano Road, and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
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Funding support for the government
Malami said the Justice Ministry has supported the government in various infrastructure funding agreements but lamented there is currently a N329 billion funding gap, according to reporting by Vanguard.
He added that an inter-ministerial committee on the audit and recovery of the arrears of stamp duty has recovered N596,055,479.47.
“The ministry has so far secured over 1,000 convictions on terrorism. Convictions have also been secured in 45 cases by the Complex Casework Group, Maritime unit, and the special task force on electricity offenses and across the 13 zonal offices of the ministry,” Malami said.
According to him, the Justice Ministry, through the CCG unit, is coordinating the next phase of terrorism related trials in collaboration with the Federal High Court, the Legal Aid Council, and Defence Headquarters.
He disclosed the ministry has processed over 350 Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) and 50 extradition requests, including extradition proceedings against Abba Kyari.
“My office filed extradition proceedings against the suspended DCP [Deputy Commissioner of Police] Abba Kyari in line with an MLA request from the USA.”
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