Guardian No more Nigeria’s loot in our vaults, says Swiss govt · Monday, 25 November 2013 21:07 · Written by Oghogho Obayuwana, Foreign Affairs Editor Wants concrete evidence on stolen money FOR Switzerland, there is no more of Nigeria’s stolen money to be repatriated beyond the $700 million returned between 2005 and 2009. Switzerland maintained Monday that it expected concrete evidence of the existence of such illegal money in Swiss vaults instead of the practice where people perpetually allude to them as if the Swiss authorities were protecting such funds in violation of financial collaboration with Nigeria. At a special briefing in Abuja on the eve of a seminar on money laundering and the financing of terrorism, the Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria, Hans-Rudolf Hodel, said: “If you have new facts (on the stolen funds of Gen. Sani Abacha or his son), bring them up, we are not content with this general feeling of ‘I am sure there is still some money left in there...’ That case has been closed.” Following the activation of the country’s due diligence financial law (left dormant in the years preceding the era of Abacha who then took advantage of the lacuna), Hodel insisted that as had now been established, “all banks are obliged to give details of the money they have. Now, the banks want to know where exactly is the owner of any money coming in. You have to prove that what you are bringing in is not illegal or stolen money.” In December 1999 following the enthronement of democracy in Nigeria, the Federal Government presented a formal request to Switzerland for mutual legal assistance involving the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha. The subsequent partnership between the countries led to the repatriation of $700 million blocked in Swiss accounts (reports raised expectations in excess of $4 billion), while that case had since been closed. Maintaining that the Swiss authorities had done their own part within legal limits to help repatriate such funds to Nigeria, Hodel said further: “Switzerland and Nigeria agreed to request the World Bank to participate in view of the use of the funds, in the framework of a budget control process of various welfare projects. Additionally, Switzerland funded a project of a NGO network which monitored the use of the recovered funds in the various development projects (on rural electrification, economic development, roads, primary healthcare and vaccination programmes, basic and secondary education as well as potable water and rural irrigation) executed by several Nigerian agencies.” Pressed further to comment on the state of other stolen money linked to Abacha’s son, the envoy said: “Against Abba Abacha, the son of the former Nigerian president, proceedings for support of a criminal organisation are still pending in Geneva. As this is an ongoing case, we cannot give further information.” On how strong the protective laws of Switzerland were given that treasury looters keep devising new means of beating the existing legislation, he said: “Switzerland has effective laws and refuses to keep illicit funds of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs). There are special measures to deal with foreign clients who are PEPs... Swiss banks are now obliged by law to report well-founded suspicions of criminal activities and simultaneously freeze the assets in question.” But what happens when illicit assets of PEPs manage to enter Switzerland despite comprehensive precautionary measures? He said in this regard: “Such have to be identified and repatriated to their country of origin. This so-called restitution is an important instrument in Switzerland’s policy of combating illegal money. Together with the states concerned, Switzerland seeks ways of returning assets of illicit origin to their rightful owners...” He gave figures to buttress the point: “ In the last 15 years, Switzerland has returned around CHF 1.7 billion ($1.7 billion) overall to their countries of origin. Individual cases attract considerable publicity on account of the high profile of the people and the amounts of money involved. Examples include the Montesinos case, Peru, 2002, the Marcos case, the Philippines, 2003, the Angolese assets case, Angola, 2005 and of course the Abacha case, Nigeria in 2005.” Also speaking yesterday on the Nigerian fuel subsidy scheme, he disclosed that the Swiss authorities had sieved a request from Nigeria (September 2012) for mutual legal assistance. “The Nigerian authorities have asked for assistance in their investigations into the activities by Nigerian marketers in the subsidy scheme under the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) regime. The request has been forwarded to the competent Swiss judicial authorities... As the legal proceedings are ongoing, we cannot provide any further information...” Switzerland and Nigeria concluded a migration partnership in 2011 and have jointly initiated projects in this regard. Since that year also, Nigeria and Switzerland have held yearly rounds of bilateral human rights consultations.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 08:35:56 +0000
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