The Swiss authorities announced this week that an out-of-court settlement with the family of late Nigerian dictator, Sani Abacha has collapsed, as Abacha's relatives do not want Swiss money laundering investigators to share information with the Nigerian government.
Switzerland blocked millions of dollars in assets in 1999, following revelations that Abacha and his associates had been embezzling and laundering assets belonging to the Nigerian government, and siphoning them off into secret bank accounts, both offshore and on.
Under the terms of an agreement reached earlier this year, the Nigerian authorities were to receive $1 billion of the funds currently blocked in Swiss banks, while the Abacha family would be permitted to keep $100 million, banked before Sani Abacha came to power.
However, according to a report from the Swissinfo news service on Thursday, the former dictator's son, Mohammed Abacha has refused to sign the necessary documents, meaning that the $535 million portion of the blocked funds which the Swiss authorities were poised to hand over to the Nigerian government will now remain frozen until the result of a federal court appeal is known.
Mohammed Abacha was released from prison in Nigeria on Sunday, having spent three years awaiting trial for embezzlement of state funds.
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