There is no more Abacha loot in Switzerland - Swiss ambassador to Nigeria
Switzerland, having returned the remaining $321 million loot stolen by former head of states, late General Sani Abacha, through its ambassador to Nigeria, Eric Mayoraz, has said that there is no more embezzled fund left in its custody.
Eric Mayoraz, the Swiss ambassador to Nigeria has said that after the return of over $1 billion embezzled by Nigeria's former head of state, General Sani Abacha and taken to Switzerland, there is no more loot left in the foreign country.
Mayoraz said this at an event hosted by the embassy to look into asset recovery efforts between Nigeria and Switzerland using the ‘Abacha loot’ as a port of call, Vanguard reports.
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The ambassador said that Switzerland had earlier returned $752 million, which the late former military leader and his family hid away in Swiss banks to Nigeria and recently returned another $321 million, which is now in the custody of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
He said that with new legislations already put in place, it would be impossible to steal public funds in Nigeria and send it to any part of Switzerland.
The envoy said: “As a way out of what led to Abacha loot, we have signed a Mutual Legal Assistance treaty with Nigeria and it is meant to enable us to track and expose those who want to bring in illicit wealth and prosecute them in accordance with the laws in place.”
“It is to be made clear that the new laws in Switzerland do not allow for any stolen wealth to be kept in any place in the country.”
Confirming Mayoraz's claim, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, said that Nigeria received of $321 million from Switzerland stolen by Abacha. Malami added that it had been kept with the CBN for the purpose of using it to empower the poor and vulnerable in Nigeria.
Malami, represented by the special assistant to the presidency on justice reforms, Juliet Ibebaku-Nwagwu, said that Nigeria and the World Bank resolved to use the Abacha loot in funding the national cash transfer scheme for the general benefit of the citizenry.
Maryam Uwais, the special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on social investment, who was represented by Linda Ekeator, manager legal, national social investments office, said that the cash transfer scheme had been set up in no fewer than 19 states of the federation and that more states would soon join the scheme.
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Uwais said that more than 270,000 families had been under the scheme while the transfer of the $321 Abacha loot to beneficiaries of the programme would start in July, 2018.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) rose from its weekly meeting in the State House Abuja on Wednesday, June 13, informing Nigerians of the forthcoming repatriation of $500 million loot from the United Kingdom, United States and France to Nigeria.
The money was part of the huge sums stolen by Nigeria's former dictator, Late General Sani Abacha, who died 20 years ago.
Abacha Loot: The Federal Government To Share $322M To Nigerians | Legit.ng TV
Source: Legit.ng
