WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States
has taken control of more than $480 million looted by former Nigerian
dictator Sani Abacha and his associates after a court ruling, the
Justice Department said on Thursday.
The money stolen during Abacha’s
1993-1998 de facto presidency of the oil-rich African nation and stashed
in banks around the world will be returned to the Nigerian government,
the department said in a statement.
“Rather than serve his county, General
Abacha used his public office in Nigeria to loot millions of dollars,
engaging in brazen acts of kleptocracy,” Assistant Attorney General
Leslie Caldwell said in the statement.
U.S. District Judge John Bates in
Washington ordered on Wednesday that the funds, frozen by the Justice
Department in March, be forfeited to U.S. control.
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