The Government of Jersey, the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Government of the United States of America, on Monday, 3 February 2020, entered into an Asset Recovery Agreement to repatriate over US$308 million of forfeited assets to Nigeria.
The funds were laundered through the US banking system and then held in bank accounts in Jersey in the name of Doraville Properties Corporation, a BVI company, and in the name of the son of the former Head of State of Nigeria, General Sani Abacha.
A United States Federal Court in Washington DC, in 2014, forfeited the money as property involved in the illicit laundering of the proceeds of corruption arising in Nigeria during the period from 1993 to 1998 when General Abacha was Head of State.
This case is a result of extensive co-operation between the Jersey authorities, the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section of the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with crucial assistance from other governments around the world.