The Federal Government has recovered $700 million(N288bn) looted funds in the last four years.
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, made this disclosure during a virtual international conference on Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) which held onTuesday.
According to the Minister, Nigeria recovered over $700m(N288bn) from United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Bailiwick of Jersey, and Ireland.
Malami stated this while confirming that the Federal Government has received a sum of £4,214,017.66 looted funds recovered from family members and associates of former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, by the UK.
The New Diplomat had recently reported that the UK has paid £4,214,017.66 (N2.9bn) to the account designated by the Federal Government.
The AGF also confirmed that an accumulation of $700m(N288bn) recovered loot has been paid to the account of the Federal Government.
In his words, “Nigeria, through proactive and collaborative efforts with other countries, has recovered and ensured the return of over $700 million from the US, the UK, Bailiwick of Jersey, Switzerland, and Ireland in the past four years.
“We are still working with our international partners and other countries to ensure that all Nigeria’s assets that are identified are recovered.”
Speaking on the government’s efforts to tackle corruption, the Minister stated that the federal government under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is using different mechanisms, which include asset declaration as stated in the Executive Order 008.
In his words, “In this way, we believe that if Nigerians or Nigerian entities come forward to declare their assets wherever located, the government will apply a levy against those assets and also bring the assets within the tax regime.
“We are also considering different ways to apply non-conviction based procedures in asset recovery to make it less cumbersome and reduce the time spent in court,” he added.
