UPROAR AS FG PLANS HANDOVER OF $100 MILLION ABACHA LOOT TO GOV BAGUDU
It’s scandalous - CISLAC Don’t complicate fund recovery efforts – Presidency May hamper fund recovery efforts - Report I did no wrong – Bagudu
• It’s scandalous, CISLAC, SERAP
• Nobody should complicate recovery efforts - Presidency
• I did no wrong - Kebbi gov
Muideen Olaniyi, Abbas Jimoh, Saawua Terzungwe, Clement Oloyede (Abuja), Aliyu M. Hamagam, Birnin Kebbi
There was a general feeling of indignation across the country yesterday over a report of alleged attempts by the federal government to hand over about $100 million United States authorities say was stolen by a former Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, to Kebbi State Governor Abubakar Bagudu, a top member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
But Bagudu has denied any wrong doing.
A Bloomberg report said a commitment by Nigeria to transfer the funds to Bagudu appeared to undermine President Muhammadu Buhari’s pledge to check corruption in the country.
It quoted the U.S. Department of Justice as saying that Bagudu was involved in corruption with Abacha, and contended that the Nigerian government was hindering U.S. efforts to recover allegedly laundered money it says was traced to Bagudu.
It added that the Buhari administration says a 17-year-old agreement entitles Bagudu to the funds and prevents Nigeria from assisting the U.S., according to recent filings from the District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington.
The disagreement, according to Bloomberg, may hamper future cooperation between Nigeria and the U.S. to recover money moved abroad by Abacha.
“This case illustrates how complex and contentious repatriating stolen assets to Nigeria can be,” Bloomberg quoted Matthew Page, an associate fellow at London-based Chatham House and former Nigeria expert for U.S. intelligence agencies, as saying.
“Instead of welcoming U.S. efforts, Nigeria’s lawyers appear to be supporting the interests of one of the country’s most powerful families,” he added.
Successive governments had made efforts to recover money looted by Abacha. In the case involving Bagudu, the U.S. in 2013 initiated a forfeiture action against a host of assets, including four investment portfolios held in London in trust for him and his family, according to the district court filings.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in a Feb. 3 statement that Bagudu, 58, was part of a network controlled by Abacha that “embezzled, misappropriated and extorted billions from the government of Nigeria.”
According to the report, despite the forfeiture action being initiated following a request in 2012, the Buhari administration says it can’t assist the U.S. because it was bound by a settlement Bagudu reached with the administration of thenPresident Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003, according to the court filings.
Under the terms of that accord, which was approved by a U.K. court, Bagudu returned $163 million of allegedly laundered money to the Nigerian authorities, which in exchange dropped all outstanding civil and criminal claims against him “stemming from his involvement in government corruption,” according to a Dec. 23 memorandum opinion by District Judge John D. Bates in Washington D.C.
That implies that Nigeria renounced any interest whatsoever in Bagudu’s trust assets, including those the U.S. is attempting to recover for the country, the report added.
Bagudu returned to Nigeria after concluding the settlement and was elected senator in 2009. Six years later, he was voted Kebbi State governor.
After Bagudu successfully sued Nigeria for violating the 2003 settlement, Buhari’s administration reached a new agreement with him in October 2018, according to the court filings. That would result in the transfer of ownership of the investment portfolios, worth 141 million euros ($155 million) to the Nigerian state, which would then pay 98.5 million euros to Bagudu and his affiliates, according to Bates’ Dec. 23 opinion. The funds are currently restrained by the U.K. at the request of the U.S.
Nigeria’s government claims the updated 2018 agreement with the Kebbi governor, which requires court approval in the U.K., will “curtail and mitigate its looming exposure” from the judgment in Bagudu’s favor.
The Buhari administration later submitted the 2018 deal to the U.K. court in September to support its application to unfreeze the assets so they can be sent to Nigeria, according to the report, but the court has yet to make a decision.
Bagudu responds
Reacting to the development, Kebbi State Governor Abubakar Bagudu denied any wrong doing, saying he believed that the report was aimed at using the media to sensationalise the case while the U.S. authorities were using it as a ploy to confiscate recovery of the money by the Nigerian government, adding that the money was frozen in the UK and not the U.S. He added that his name was only joined as an associate of the Abacha government and though he signed an agreement with the federal government under former president Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003, up to 2013 none of his assets was frozen in Nigeria, and therefore he did not admit criminal liability. According to a copy of the agreement obtained by Daily Trust in Abuja last night, it says if at any stage Bagudu returned to Nigeria he would not be arrested and in case of any mistaken arrest unconditional bail would be granted him in respect of the Abuja proceedings, the amended Abuja proceedings, the delegated proceedings or any criminal proceedings existing or future relating to the resolved matters as in the principal agreement. The agreement was accompanied by a presidential statement in respect of Global Settlements between Bagudu and his affiliates and the Federal Republic of Nigeria signed by former president Olusegun Obasanjo on August 18, 2003. The letter listed Bagudu’s affiliates as David Liewellyn Jones, Smith and Tyres Limited, Robinson International, and AB’s wife, children, brothers and sisters.filiates as David Liewellyn Jones, Smith and Tyres Limited, Robinson International, and AB’s wife, children, brothers and sisters.