FG receives $322.51 million Abacha’s loot from Switzerland

The Federal Government has announced receipt of $322.51 million from the Swiss government as part of the looted funds recovered from the late former Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.

Special Adviser, Media and Communications to the Minister of Finance, Oluyinka Akintunde, disclosed this in a statement yesterday in Abuja.Akintunde said there was no controversy surrounding the recovery of the stolen funds from the Swiss government.

“The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, dissociates herself and the Federal Ministry of Finance from recent reports on the Abacha loot refunds.
“The minister had at no time written any letter to the president or any member of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on the payment of lawyers for the Abacha recovery.

“She also refuted the flawed reports of controversy surrounding the Abacha recovery.“We state that $322,515,931.83 was received into a Special Account in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on December 18, 2017 from the Swiss government.

“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no controversy concerning the recovery of the Abacha monies from the Swiss Government,” he said.According to Akintunde, the minister faulted a recent report that she objected to the payment of $16.9 million to two lawyers who recovered the looted funds.