Switzerland Confirms Release Of $1Billion Abacha Loot To Nigeria, Blasts Buhari For Refusing To Use Fund To Alleviate Poverty

Switzerland Confirms Release Of $1Billion Abacha Loot To Nigeria, Blasts Buhari For Refusing To Use Fund To Alleviate Poverty

Swiss Government has repatriated over $1billion Abacha loot to Nigeria, its Ambassador Eric Mayoraz aid yesterday in Abuja.

He added that his country is collaborating with the federal government to trace and repatriate looted funds stashed in foreign lands.

Mayoraz said;

“All fund hidden in Swiss banks by Abacha was fully repatriated and so we don’t have any of such fund in Switzerland again. $752m was returned in 2005 and we discovered more and more in other banks and that involved the $322.5m that was repatriated earlier this year.”

He spoke at the Forum on Asset Recovery hosted by the Swiss Embassy to discuss issues surrounding the Abacha 2 asset recovery between the two countries with many non-governmental organisations and representatives of international agencies in attendance.

Although the envoy declined to reveal details of the funds that would likely be repatriated back to Nigeria, he explained that the ongoing efforts are geared towards getting a positive result in line with the Mutual Legal Persistence Request agreement signed between the two countries.

Decrying what he termed lack of transparency in the Nigerian government’s handling of the funds, Mayoraz said the Swiss government insisted on the involvement of the World Bank in the management of the $322.5m to ensure that money was spent to alleviate the sufferings of the poor.

“Unfortunately, some of the assets that were returned, there was not so much transparency in it. So, we have to introduce the World Bank to get involved in this so that this particular one can be used by the Nigerian government with the monitoring of the World Bank”, he said.