The Federal Government says it would soon embark on the recovery of additional $750 million said to be part of the billions stolen by former Head of State Late Gen. Sanni Abacha. The FG also said that about £6.9 million said to have been misappropriated by a former governor of Delta State, James Ibori would be recovered as well.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami disclosed this during an interactive session with the House of Representatives Committee on Justice in Abuja.
“In respect of of the recovery of looted assets, the ministry will engage in an agree waive policy of using Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements or other bilateral and multilateral instruments to seek cooperation with other jurisdictions to ensure the repatriation of illicitly- acquired assets in foreign jurisdictions.
“The collaboration will equally involve the engagement of foreign-based Counsel to attend to matters on behalf of the Federal Government. Low- hanging fruits being targeted in this initiative include $750 million ‘Abaca loot’ as well as the sum of GBP 6.9 million of the ‘Ibori loot’.
“On the long run, the ministry will be in a position to coordinate the recovery of billions of Dollars in foreign jurisdictions, based on current estimations,” Malami said.
Speaking further, he noted that “The anti-corruption campaign will involve the deployment of resources by the ministry to assess and prosecute the requisite cases in collaboration with the anti-corruption agencies, pursuit to the overriding powers of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice in Sections 150 and 174 of the 1999 Constitution as amended”.
