The coast is now clear for Nigeria to recover an estimated $300million stashed in bank accounts in the small island by the late military ruler, General Sani Abacha.
The Jersey Evening Post reported yesterday that the funds “will remain frozen in Jersey pending the registration of a civil asset recovery order in the Royal Court.”
It said the money will be released to Nigeria once it is ‘freed’, according to a ruling by the Privy Council.
Jersey is unlikely to receive a share,it said.
The stolen money was funnelled to Jersey from after being laundered through the USA.
It was placed in accounts held locally by a British Virgin Islands company, Doraville Properties Corporation.
In 2014 the assets were frozen by the Royal Court following an application by the US authorities. Since then, Doraville has lodged several legal challenges to lift the property restraining order.
Both the Royal Court and later Jersey’s Court of Appeal dismissed the company’s applications. And Doraville recently failed in its last available legal challenge, after the Privy Council rejected the company’s latest application.
The newspaper quoted Jersey’s Attorney General Robert MacRae as saying : “In restraining the funds at the request of the United States of America, through whose banking system the funds were laundered prior to arriving here, Jersey has once again demonstrated its commitment to tackling international financial crime and money laundering.”
