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$350m seized from dictator's son

Nov 21, 2009 10:12 AM | By AFP

Swiss authorities said that they had ordered some 350 million dollars of assets to be seized from the son of the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha for graft.


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A photo dated 26 March 1997 shows Nigerian President General Sani Abacha during a summit in Lome
A photo dated 26 March 1997 shows Nigerian President General Sani Abacha during a summit in Lome
Photograph by: ISSOUF SANOGO
Credit: AFP

"The first order of the sentence issued yesterday by the examining magistrate found that Abba Abacha, born November 9, 1968, son of the late general Sani Abacha, was guilty of participation in a criminal organisation," Geneva canton's justice office said in a statement.

"The examining magistrate sentenced him to a suspended jail term, and ordered the confiscation of his assets of 350 million dollars -- which is held by his criminal organisation and seized through international assistance in Luxembourg and the Bahamas."

The court was not immediately available for comment on the duration of the suspended jail sentence.

The elder Abacha, who died in June 1998, is suspected of having siphoned off some 2.2 billion dollars from the Nigerian central bank between his coming to power in November 1993 and his death four-and-a-half years later.

Some 700 million dollars of his loot, which was stashed in Swiss banks, have been returned by Switzerland to Nigerian authorities.

In Friday's statement, Geneva authorities said they have convicted a "financial intermediary who is currently domiciled in the Principality of Monaco, for having been part of the criminal organisation" run by the Abacha clan.

This person, who was not named, has been sentenced to pay an unspecified fine.

The person has also been ordered to pay the canton of Geneva 10 million Swiss francs -- which "corresponds to illicit gains obtained from these culpable activities," added the statement

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Comments

Nov 21 2009 02:08:14 PM
Garrio
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While your Swiss guys are at it .. Anything in your books under the name of Thabo Mbeki, Chippie Shaik, Nkobi Holdings, Zarina Schaik, Joe Modise, Tony Yengeni, Terror Lekota, Fana Hlongwane, John Bredenkamp? .. Sigh. Just asking. I don’t really think we, ordinary hard-working South Africans, will ever get an answer. What I do know is that our children’s children will still be paying taxes in decades to come to make good the arms-deal bribes…
Nov 21 2009 04:54:51 PM
samurai14
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Then we should add Zuma, and rest of his bunch of clowns...they have all stolen from this country.
Nov 21 2009 05:23:28 PM
Baboon with Lipstick
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Nov 21 2009 02:08:14 PM
Garrio - LoL!!!

seriously no one should be surprised as corruption rules africa to its detriment.
Nov 21 2009 06:13:57 PM
mcritic
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While they are at it - why not a few extra names - like Robert Gabrial Mugabe, Chiwenga and the rest of the looting lot in Zimbabwe.
Nov 21 2009 11:23:55 PM
feelgood
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This is what happen when the state owns everything and the big wheels in the government can steal everything. This is why the people in the ANC wants to keep Helen and others quite so they can take everything. What you see is the tip of an iceberg of what has been stolen out of Nigeria and other Africans countries. This why one Nigerian said that the best thing that happen in SA is that the whites stayed there. He claims that after visiting SA that country was blessed to have the whites in SA. The problem with the blacks in SA is that they never been to other African countries and seen how these state own companies worked.
Nov 23 2009 03:15:25 PM
As_IT_is
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what were they doing and how did they get away with it?

good riddence...mark thatcher next!
Nov 23 2009 05:24:01 PM
feelgood
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@As it is, you have been reading about Europe and the US and very little about black Africa. The rule of law have almost disappeared in most of black Africa and these dictators are the law. Abacha had a plane blown up with his step son on it to get an enemy of his who he though was plotting to kick him out of office. If Madoff were in Africa he still would be walking the streets nobody could touch him. This why many people are worried that SA can become like the other African countries with the breakdown of the rule of law.


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