US to return the $458 million assets stolen by Late Abacha

TWO United States, US senior lawyers and
professors of law have requested the United
States of America to without delay repatriate the
sum of $458 million assets stolen by the former
military dictator late General Sani Abacha and
his accomplices.
The lawyers Alexander Sierck and Nicholai
Diamond of Cameron LPP in Washington DC
made the request in a letter dated 18 March
2014 sent to Eric Holder, Jr. the Attorney General
of United States of America as Volunteer Counsel
for Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability
Project (SERAP).
In the letter titled ‘Re: Abacha Kleptocracy
Forfeiture Action’, the lawyers said “SERAP
respectfully requests that the U.S. Department of
Justice establish a general process for the
repatriation of assets seized as part of its
Kleptocracy Initiative.
SERAP’s request arises in the specific context of
the Department’s March 6, 2014 announcement
that it has frozen more than $458 million in
corruption proceeds, which have been hidden in
bank accounts around the world by former
Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and conspirators,
to implement the civil forfeiture complaint filed in
federal district court here in Washington.
As the Department stated in its press release
announcing the seizure, these seized funds
properly belong to the citizens the kleptocrats
ostensibly served.”
According to the lawyers, “Even though the
Department has only recently filed the civil
forfeiture complaint regarding the Abacha-related
assets, SERAP respectfully submits that its
request is nonetheless timely in regard to such
assets.
This is because in many such cases, the
kleptocrats owning the seized property do not
appear in the U.S. to contest the seizure
because they would then subject themselves to
personal jurisdiction in the underlying criminal
case that might be filed against them. Thus, at
some point, perhaps by the end of 2014, there
will be a default on the Abacha asset seizure,
consequently freeing up the assets for
repatriation to or for the benefit of Nigeria and
its citizens.”
“SERAP notes that in a September 19, 2011
interview with the Main Justice blog, Jennifer
Shasky, speaking on behalf of the Department’s
Kleptocracy Initiative, stated that: the
Department has no [legal] obligation to repatriate
assets subject to civil forfeiture, but that the
Department is committed to finding ways to
repatriate or otherwise use such funds for the
benefit of the victim country. SERAP assumes
that this is still the Department’s position,” the
lawyers also said.
They also noted that, “on March 15, 2012,
SERAP filed a letter with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division
seeking comparable repatriation of civil fines paid
in connection with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
settlements.
In particular, SERAP proposed that such fines be
repatriated to or for the benefit of the people of
the victim country in the event that the SEC
determined not to pay such proceeds directly to
the government where officials were apparently
bribed.
To that end, SERAP proposed that such funds
might be conveyed to a reliable U.S. or Nigerian
charitable organization to be spent on health
care, for example, subject to anti-corruption
safeguards.” The lawyers also “requests that the
Department publish for public comment a
proposal for the disposition of such seized
assets, not just in the Abacha context but in all
such Kleptocracy Initiative cases. In SERAP’s
judgment, the Department’s proposal ought to
explain:
· When and under what circumstances the
Department will “foreclose” on such seized, and
presumably defaulted, assets. · Whether and
when the Department will provide public notice of
such foreclosure.
Whether, following such foreclosure, the
Department will provide public notice, of 90 days
for example, for requests for repatriation to be