Sani Abacha ruled Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998, a period during which he stole up to $5 billion of public money, according to Transparency International. He was never charged. Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) has recently recovered more than $23 million stolen by military dictator Abacha, the latest in a series of similar recoveries around the world.
The money recovered in Britain forms part of a larger pool of funds identified by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) as having been misappropriated by Abacha and his associates, the NCA said in a statement.
"The NCA is committed to ensuring that the UK is not a safe haven for criminals to launder their proceeds of crime, and civil recovery of assets is a powerful weapon in this fight," said Billy Beattie, Asset Denial Senior Manager at the NCA.
