Federal Government to recover $750 million from Abacha's loot

The Federal Government is set to recover an additional 750 million dollars of Abacha loot, Abubakar Malami, the Attorney- General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, has said.

Malami made the disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja during an interactive session with members of the House of Representatives Committee on Justice.

He said that his ministry also intends to recover 6.9 million pounds "Ibori loot" on behalf of the Federal Government.

He said: In respect of the recovery of looted assets, the ministry will engage in an agreed waive policy of using Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements or other bilateral and multilateral instruments. 

''We will 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 dollars 'Abacha loot' as well as 6.9 million pounds of `Ibori loot.’’

Commenting on terrorism, Malami said that his ministry was currently processing 800 terrorism cases for prosecution.

''The resources required for the successful prosecution of these cases as well as the general coordination of the Criminal Justice Sector Act, were fully captured in the 2016 budget.

''The Ministry of Justice has made the original proposal to the Ministry of Finance,’’ he said. The minister said that his ministry would not be able to execute capital projects this year due to the restriction placed on its allocation due to huge judgment debts".