Nigeria Tries to Recover Abacha Funds from Foreign Bank Accounts

The Nigerian Government is trying to confiscate more than $1 billion of funds allegedly stolen by San Abacha, the former dictator, from bank accounts in Europe and the U.S. after the breakdown of settlement discussions with the Abacha family. In particular, Nigeria seeking the forfeiture and recovery of funds in bank accounts in Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S. According to Enrico Monfrini, a Swiss attorney acting for the Nigerian Government, the Nigerian Government instructed him to confiscate the money that has been frozen and locate and confiscate additional money. The continuing battle between the Nigerian Government and the Abacha family over money taken from Nigeria illustrates the difficulties in finding, freezing, seizing, confiscating, forfeiting, and recovering money that is allegedly wrongly taken from a government and is located abroad. Proceedings are quite expensive and time-consuming. In many countries a foreign government seeking to recover its assets must first show proof of a crime, namely a conviction, and then evidence that the monies frozen are the proceeds or instrumentalities of the crimes for which the person(s) (e.g., Mrs. Mohammed Abach and Abubakar Bagudu) have been convicted.