Switzerland will return around US$321 million to Nigeria in assets seized from the family of former military ruler Sani Abacha, the Swiss government said.
The repatriation of the funds comes following a deal signed between the two nations and the World Bank.
Transparency International, a corruption watchdog, has accused Abacha of stealing up to US$5 billion of public money during his five-year reign of the oil-rich country – from 1993 until his death in 1998.
According to Reuters, Nigeria and the Abacha family reached an agreement in 2014 for the West African country to get back the funds which had been frozen, in return for for dropping a complaint against the former military ruler’s son, Abba Abacha.
Abba had been charged with money laundering, fraud and forgery in April 2005 by a Swiss court, after being extradited from Germany. He later spent 561 days in custody.
In 2006, Luxembourg ordered that funds held by the younger Abacha be frozen.
Now Switzerland, Nigeria and the World Bank have agreed the funds will be repatriated via a project supported and overseen by the World Bank, the Swiss government 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,” it added.
