The son of former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha is to appear in court on Monday in Geneva for plundering his country’s accounts while his father was in power.
This content was published on
1 minute
Abba Abacha, 41, was convicted of involvement in a criminal organisation and received a suspended sentence. He was also ordered to pay $350 million (SFr388 million), which was collected with help from Luxembourg and the Bahamas.
Abacha has appealed that ruling and on Monday will go before a police court in Geneva, as Swiss law requires.
Between 1993-1998 Sani Abacha is believed to have siphoned off $2.2 billion from public coffers. He died in 1998.
In 1999, Nigerian authorities asked Swiss justice officials for help in repatriating some of the money that had ended up in Swiss accounts.
The Swiss then blocked some $700 million of it before giving it back to Nigeria in installments, according to an accord both countries had signed.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Swiss pioneer return of dictator funds
This content was published on
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…
This content was published on
The latest move in the long-running saga immediately followed a Federal Court decision to reverse a lower court’s ruling that a large share of the $5.7 million (SFr6 million) in Swiss accounts should have gone to charities working in Haiti. Duvalier’s family and supporters have petitioned to reclaim the money. “In view of the criminal…
This content was published on
That is when the account holding SFr8 million or so ($6.9 million) deposited in Swiss banks by the late president of Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko, is due to be unfrozen. But it is not in fact clear what will happen. Despite its reputation for turning a blind eye to the source of deposits, Switzerland’s recent…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.