British Court seizes Abacha £211m Loot

A British court has seized 211,000,000 million pounds looted by the former Nigerian dictator and military head of state, General Sani Abacha from a Jersey bank account that belonged to late General Abacha.

The money was put in accounts held in Jersey by Doraville Properties Corporation, a British Virgin Islands company.

The money worth £211,000,000 was laundered through the U.S. into the Channel Islands but eventually discovered and recovered.

The report said, “Money to the value of £211,000,000 has been seized from a Jersey bank account that belonged to a former dictator.

“General Sani Abacha was a Nigerian army officer and de facto president between 1993 until his death in 1998.

“He laundered money through the U.S. into the Channel Islands and now that money has been recovered.

“The money was put in accounts held in Jersey by Doraville Properties Corporation, a British Virgin Islands company.

“The money is now being held by the government until authorities in Jersey, the U.S. and Nigeria come to an agreement on how it should be distributed.

“Any money that Jersey does keep will be put into the Criminal Confiscation Fund, which is used to pay for a variety of projects. In the past the fund has been used for the new police station and developments at La Moye Prison.

“It is expected that even more money held by Doraville is likely to be seized and paid into the Civil Asset Recovery Fund in the future.”

Attorney General Robert MacRae said: “In restraining the funds at the request of the United States of America, through whose banking system the funds were laundered prior to arriving here, and in achieving the payment of the bulk of the funds into the Civil Asset Recovery Fund, Jersey has once again demonstrated its commitment to tackling international financial crime and money laundering.”

Recall that in 2014, at the request of the U.S. authorities, the Island’s Attorney General applied for, and the Royal Court granted, a restraining order over the Jersey bank account balance of Doraville.

The purpose of the restraining order was to preserve the money until a final civil asset recovery order could be registered in the Royal Court.

Doraville applied to the Royal Court for the restraint order to be discharged, but the Royal Court dismissed the application in 2016.

Then in 2017, Doraville challenged the Royal Court’s decision, taking the case to Jersey’s Court of Appeal. That challenge was again rejected.

Finally, following the decision of Jersey’s Court of Appeal, Doraville made an application to appeal against the restraint order before the Privy Council – Jersey’s ultimate appellate court.

In February 2018 the Privy Council announced its rejection of this final legal challenge.

Last week, Solicitor General Mark Temple gave a presentation in Vienna, Austria, about Doraville at a UN conference on corruption.

He said: “The conference of the States Parties to the United Nations convention against corruption is an important international forum concerned with anti-corruption measures and asset returns.

“The conference was a good opportunity to demonstrate progress with the Doraville case, as well as Jersey’s determination to deal with international financial crime more generally.”