Switerzland Returns Looted $700 Million To Nigeria

The Swiss ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Hans-Rudolf Hodel, said the United States’ $700 million stashed in Swiss banks by the late military head of state General Sani Abacha has been returned to Nigeria.

Hodel added that Swiss and Nigerian governments have agreed to request the World Bank to participate in the review of the use of the funds on welfare projects.

“Regarding Sani Abacha, Switzerland has restituted and returned $700 million of illicit assets to Nigeria,” he said.

The ambassador said in addition to the return of the funds, Switzerland also funded a project of an NGO network that monitored the use of the recovered monies in the various development projects.

On the case against the late Abacha’s son Abba, Hodel said proceedings over support of a criminal organization were still pending in Geneva.

“There are special procedures to deal with foreign clients who are PEPs (politically-exposed persons),” he said. “Swiss banks must put clients into different risk categories. They might decide not to start business relationship with a PEP because of the reputation risk involved. Swiss banks are obliged by law to report well-founded suspicions of criminal activity and simultaneously freeze the assets in question.”

When asked on a recent report on Swiss traders involved in opaque $6.8 billion oil deals in Nigeria, the envoy said they have not received any formal request regarding that.

“I have no knowledge that we have been contacted by the authorities. In case they will start proceedings and they will need our help, of course with international legal cooperation we will help them if they approach us. But until now, they have not approached us,” he said.

N4.4 Billion Subsidy Scam: Mamman Ali Used Forged Documents – Witness

A prosecution witness, Mr Chidi Onyedikwe, on Wednesday told an Ikeja High Court that some documents used by an oil marketer, Mamman Ali, to collect N4.4 billion subsidy were forged.Onyedikwe was testifying at the resumed trial of Mamman, who is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over a subsidy scam.
He was charged alongside Christian Taylor, a Sierra Leonean; Oluwaseun Ogunbambo, an oil marketer, and Nassaman Oil Services.
Onyedikwe, the Lagos branch manager of Inspectorate Marine Services Nigeria Ltd., had, on Feb. 21, testified that the defendants used fraudulent documents to obtain the money.
Under cross-examination by counsel to the defendants, Mr Kolade Obafemi, and Mr Adebayo Adenipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, the witness maintained that his company did not issue the documents.
Onyedikwe listed the documents to include cargo transfer, certificate of quantity, certificate of quality and haulage, all bearing the logos, signatures and stamps of his company.
He said: “As I said, we went through our operational records, our laboratory records and account records.
“Those documents did not emanate from our company even though it was bearing our logos, stamps and signatures.”
Onyedikwe said the haulage report showed that the defendants had imported the petroleum products and that his company had inspected the products.
He said that the company did not assign any of its inspectors to carry out the said transaction.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the EFCC had in its charges, claimed that the defendants presented the documents to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to obtain the subsidy.
The case, which is being heard by Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo, was adjourned to May 28.

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