By Hamilton Nwosa (Head, The New Diplomat’s Business and Poll Tracking Desk)
The Family of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, on Friday, lost its bid to reclaim access to the numerous accounts held by its members in banks in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Jersey, Liechenstein and Luxembourg.
The Supreme Court five-man panel held in a judgment that it was too late for the Abacha family to question the decision taken by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1999, via a letter authored by the then Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Kanu Agabi (SAN).
Justice Chima Nweze, who authored the panel’s lead judgment. in the appeal marked: SC/68/2010, held among others, that in view of the evidence presented by parties, he was left with no other options than to affirm the earlier concurrent decisions of the two lower courts (the Federal High Court, Kano and the Court of Appeal, Kaduna division), to the effect that the action was statute barred.
Lawyer to the appellant, Reuben Atabo had in his brief of argument contended that the Federal Government acted without any legal backing. He also faulted the decisions of the two lower courts and argued that the FG, in asking foreign agents to freeze the accounts traced to the Abachas, acted on a law that was no longer in existence.
He contended that the Banking (Freezing of Accounts) Act of 1st December 1983, which the FG relied on in September 1999 to demand the freezing of the accounts, was repealed on May 29, 1999.
“In other words, between September 1999 and October 2003 when the various acts leading to the freezing of the appellant’s accounts were carried out by the respondents, the Banking (Freezing of Accounts) Act of 1st December 1983 upon which the said acts were carried out or founded, was non-existent, same having been repealed on 29ths May, 1999,” Atabo said.
Recall that, The United States and Jersey authorities have repatriated N112.05 billion ($308 million) reportedly stolen and laundered by the executive governor of Kebbi State, Alhaji Abubakar Bagudu on behalf of late military dictator and Head of State, General Sani Abacha.
Before he emerged as governor, Alhaji Bagudu, was a horrific money courier for late General Abacha allegedly helping the late military dictator and Head of State who died in 1998 to launder a large chunk of the estimated $2.2 billion stolen from Nigeria’s coffers during his reign.
The amount which has been described as the “largest single asset repatriation the Island (Jersey) has ever undertaken, and among the largest in the world,” in a joint press statement on Monday by the Nigerian government, US Department of Justice, and the government of Jersey had read.
This latest repatriation is the highest in a slew of funds stolen by late General which has Abacha and his family, which has been repatriated from Europe and the United States.
However, this latest amount to be repatriated to Nigeria following a tripartite arrangement entered into, “does not include the more than N59.3 billion ($163 million) Alhaji Bagudu agreed to return to Nigeria in 2003 in exchange for Jersey’s withdrawal of an extradition request to the United States for him to face criminal prosecution in the island nation.”
Sources had further hinted that a ruling had been given in January 2019 at the US District Court of Columbia in a suit brought by one Ibrahim, Alhaji Bagudu’s elder brother, who was laying claim to $287 million deposited in one account owned by Doraville Properties, a shell company reportedly set up Alhaji Bagudu for the primary aim of laundering funds stolen from Nigeria’s territory
