You’re As Guilty As Abacha, FG Blasts Switzerland For ‘Condoning Huge Thefts’

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has accused Switzerland of condoning the huge amount of money stolen and stashed in the country by late Nigerian ruler, Sani Abacha.

He said this while speaking on Tuesday morning at the opening of 2nd International Conference on Combating Illicit Financial Flows and Enhancing Asset Recovery for Sustainable Development, organised by the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC).

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The minister queried the country for making the process of repatriation of the assets strenuous.

Recall that Switzerland recently repatriated $322.5 million of the Abacha loot in that country.

“All fund hidden in Swiss banks by Abacha was fully repatriated and so we don’t have any of such fund in Switzerland again. $752m was returned in 2005 and we discovered more and more in other banks and that involved the $322.5m that was repatriated earlier this year,” its Ambassador Eric Mayoraz had said.

Onyeama said he was also shocked and angry by the chunk of the money retained by “institutions in Switzerland and lawyers”.

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He described the action by Swiss authorities as “daylight robbery”, accusing countries receiving illicit finances of “condoning huge thefts.”

According to him, such countries are “accessories” to such crimes.

“They are guilty of theft as those who transferred the money in the first place. This is simply unacceptable and immoral,” he said.

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