Stolen Gen Sani Abacha Loot: U.S. takes control of $480 million

he United States has taken control of more than $480 million looted by former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and his associates after a court ruling, the Justice Department said on Thursday.

The money stolen during Abacha's 1993-1998 de facto presidency of the oil-rich African nation and stashed in banks around the world will be returned to the Nigerian government, the department said in a statement.

"Rather than serve his county, General Abacha used his public office in Nigeria to loot millions of dollars, engaging in brazen acts of kleptocracy," Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said in the statement.

U.S. District Judge John Bates in Washington ordered on Wednesday that the funds, frozen by the Justice Department in March, be forfeited to U.S. control.

The judgment includes about $303 million in two bank accounts in the British offshore center of Jersey and $144 million in two bank accounts in France. Three accounts in the United Kingdom and Ireland hold at least $27 million, the statement said.

Claims to another $148 million in four investment portfolios in the United Kingdom are pending.
- Reuters