US Government freezes $458million Sani Abacha cash

Sanni Abacha

The United States government said it had ordered a freeze on $458 million in assets hidden in European accounts by former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and his conspirators.

PM News reports that the Justice Department said the corruption proceeds, stashed away in bank accounts in Britain, France and Jersey, were frozen at Washington’s request with the help of local authorities.

Abacha died in office in 1998, but his surviving relatives still include some of the richest and most influential figures in Nigeria.

According to a civil forfeiture complaint unsealed in the US District Court in Washington, the department wants the recover more than $550 million in connection with the action.

“This is the largest civil forfeiture action to recover the proceeds of foreign official corruption ever brought by the department,” said Mythili Raman, acting assistant attorney general.

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