Swiss officials say they are returning to Nigeria some $380 million linked to the country’s former dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha.
Geneva prosecutors said Tuesday they ordered the money seized in Luxembourg starting in 2006. It was transferred to Switzerland and officially confiscated last year following an agreement between Nigeria and the Abacha family under which the Nigerian government dropped its case against the late dictator’s son, Abba Abacha.
The money, confiscated on the basis that the Abacha family was a criminal organization, will now be returned to Nigeria under World Bank supervision.
Geneva prosecutors closed their own case, opened in 1999, in which Abba Abacha was the last person still under investigation.
Switzerland has previously returned to Nigeria more than $700 million that Sani Abacha stashed in Swiss accounts.