The Swiss Federal Justice Office in Bern revealed on Wednesday that the Nigerian government has reached an out-of-court settlement with the Abacha family over billions of dollars embezzled by former dictator Sani Abacha during his reign.
As a result, the Swiss authorities have agreed to unfreeze around $535 million in assets deposited by the former ruler and his family and business associates.
The assets were originally frozen following a request from the Nigerian government in 1999. The deceased ruler and his family stood accused of embezzling and laundering over $2.2 billion through the global financial system, and the Nigerian authorities called on Switzerland to provide legal assistance in discovering and blocking the assets.
This resulted in a three year international investigation, involving the banking sectors in the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and Jersey, through which stolen assets were also laundered. These jurisdictions have also reportedly agreed to unfreeze the bulk of the funds deposited there in the light of this new deal.
The Nigerian government announced this week that it will abandon legal proceedings against any family members and associates involved in the deal, and will drop requests for legal assistance from countries such as Switzerland.
The Abacha family are also to be granted around $100 million, proven to have been derived from non-criminal sources before Sani Abacha came to power in Nigeria. However, according to the Swiss Justice Ministry the brother of the late dictator, Abdulkadir Abacha, is still under investigation, and Mohammed Abacha (Sani Abacha's son) will remain in prison for the murder of the wife of one of his father's political opponents.
The Swiss authorities have revealed that the unblocked assets will be transferred to the Bank of International Settlements in Basel, before being returned to the Nigerian government.
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