U.S. takes control of $480 million stolen by Nigerian dictator Abacha- To Return it to Nigerian Government

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Abacha loot: US to return $480million to Nigeria</span></span></h3> <div class="post-header" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"> <div class="post-header-line-1"> </div> </div> <div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5213324905473060086" itemprop="description articleBody" style="position: relative; width: 670px;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeBGHNvuf1M_vN9DSwFwOn-rECS424QEvUJZ-k8_WxOzIT691DbpDs7ZMIKCxum8WIKCJmMx0-RKA0ow3aCbH4dcGvrh_4YpM7g-IHXw68BP3Nd1JtB-7xw0HjbybYC7nBWxt2t5n1Ep_G/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeBGHNvuf1M_vN9DSwFwOn-rECS424QEvUJZ-k8_WxOzIT691DbpDs7ZMIKCxum8WIKCJmMx0-RKA0ow3aCbH4dcGvrh_4YpM7g-IHXw68BP3Nd1JtB-7xw0HjbybYC7nBWxt2t5n1Ep_G/s1600/unnamed.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 8px; position: relative;" width="640" /></span></a></div> </div> <br /> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> (Reuters) - The United States has taken control of more than $480 million looted by former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and his associates after a court ruling, the Justice Department said on Thursday.</div> <div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> The money stolen during Abacha's 1993-1998 de facto presidency of the oil-rich African nation and stashed in <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/sectors/industries/overview?industryCode=128&lc=int_mb_1001" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">banks</a></span> around the world will be returned to the Nigerian government, the department said in a statement.</div> <div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> “Rather than serve his county, General Abacha used his public office in Nigeria to loot millions of dollars, engaging in brazen acts of kleptocracy,” Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said in the statement.</div> <div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> U.S. District Judge John Bates in Washington ordered on Wednesday that the funds, frozen by the Justice Department in March, be forfeited to U.S. control.</div> <div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> The judgment includes about $303 million in two bank accounts in the British offshore center of Jersey and $144 million in two bank accounts in <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/france?lc=int_mb_1001" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">France</a></span>. Three accounts in the United Kingdom and <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/ireland?lc=int_mb_1001" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Ireland</a></span> hold at least $27 million, the statement said.</div> <div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> Claims to another $148 million in four investment portfolios in the United Kingdom are pending.</div> <div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> Abacha, who took power in a coup, died in 1998. Nigeria has been fighting for years to recover his money, but companies linked to the Abacha family have gone to court to prevent repatriation.</div> <div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> Between $3 billion and $5 billion of public money was looted during Abacha's regime, according to Transparency International. The Justice Department suit filed in November 2013 saying that Abacha, his son Mohammed Sani Abacha, their associate Abubakar Atiku Bagudu and others embezzled, misappropriated and extorted money from the Nigerian government.</div> <div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> They laundered funds by buying <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/bonds?lc=int_mb_1001" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">bonds</a></span> backed by the United States using U.S. financial institutions, prosecutors said. The assets were held in <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/sectors/industries/overview?industryCode=128&lc=int_mb_1001" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">banks</a></span> that included Deutsche Bank AG, <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=HCS&lc=int_mb_1001" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">HSBC Holdings Plc</a></span> and Banque SBA, according to the lawsuit.</div> <div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> In June, after a 16-year legal battle, Nigeria recovered from Liechtenstein $228 million stolen by Abacha and his associates. As of last year, Nigeria had recovered about $1.3 billion of Abacha's money from various European jurisdictions.</div> </div>

U.S. takes control of $480 million stolen by Nigerian dictator Abacha- To Return it to Nigerian Government

Abacha loot: US to return $480million to Nigeria (Reuters) - The United States has taken control of more than $480 million loot...

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