Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has clarified that the amount of late Sani Abacha’s loot payable to Nigeria from Switzerland is $321 million, and that it is being returned to Nigeria for projects which are subject to verification by the World Bank.
Reacting to what she called “a misleading report” published in the Saturday edition of the Punch, December 10, which erroneously claimed that the Federal Government has agreed to pay a $79 million commission to the Swiss government as part of conditions for repatriation of the Abacha loot, the minister said that the recovery process is ongoing with the Swiss authorities and that the World Bank has agreed to undertake the required verification.
In a statement today, Adeosun said that there is no deduction of $79 million as suggested in the report which is both “misleading and inaccurate.”
She assured that recovery will be made in full and that there is no commitment nor requirement to pay any commission.
“The Federal Government is committed to securing the return of all looted funds in their entirety and has never entered into any sharing arrangement as suggested in the report.”
The minister said that intense efforts are continuing to secure all monies due to Nigeria, including an additional $400 million of Abacha loot held up in US Courts on which the Attorney General of the Federation and the Ministry of Finance are engaging with their US counterparts to secure expeditiously. [myad]
