A Geneva court has sentenced the son of former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha to a two-year suspended sentence for belonging to a criminal organisation.
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Abba Abacha had been appealing against a 2009 guilty verdict on those charges as well as the court seizure of over $400 million in assets linked to his father, who died in 1998.
The Geneva Police Court had decided last month that the hearing could go ahead without Abacha and some of the witnesses who decided not to attend.
Abacha, 41, was accused of plundering his country’s accounts while his father was in power in the 1990s.
The court said that he had been part of the family structure set up by his father to pillage Nigerian resources.
According to the lawyer representing Nigeria, Abacha stashed over $400 million in the Bahamas and Luxembourg – assets that will now be confiscated following the court’s decision.
The Nigerian government is expected to ask for the funds to be handed over.
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Court rules Abacha hearing can continue
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Abacha’s Swiss lawyers had argued that since Abba Abacha had not been able to get a visa to enter Switzerland in time, the trial should be adjourned. The younger Abacha is appealing against a 2009 guilty verdict on charges of belonging to a criminal organisation and the court seizure of $350 million (SFr385 million) linked…
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Abacha’s Swiss lawyer said he could not get a visa to enter Switzerland in time. He is appealing against a 2009 guilty verdict on charges of belonging to a criminal organisation and the court seizure of $350 million (SFr 385 million) linked to his father. According to Abacha’s lawyer, Pierre de Preux, his client applied…
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Valentin Zellweger, the new head of international law at the Swiss foreign ministry, met international reporters in Geneva on Wednesday to discuss a new draft law to help return ill-gotten gains deposited in Swiss banks. Over the past 15 years Switzerland has returned over SFr1.7 billion ($1.57 billion) misappropriated and deposited in Swiss banks by…
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