TheCable

The federal government is set to recover an additional $760 million loot of Sani Abacha, former military dictator, and James Ibori, ex-governor of Delta state, currently serving jail sentence in the United Kingdom.

Abubakar Malami, attorney- general of the federation (AGF) and minister of justice, made the disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja during an interactive session with members of the house of representatives committee on justice.

He gave the breakdown of the money as $760 million from Abacha and £6.9 million ( $9.9 million) from Ibori.

“In respect of the recovery of looted assets, the ministry will engage in an agreed waive policy of using Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements or other bilateral and multilateral instruments,” he said.

“We will seek cooperation with other jurisdictions to ensure the repatriation of illicitly- acquired assets in foreign jurisdictions.

“The collaboration will equally involve the engagement of foreign-based counsel to attend to matters on behalf of the federal government. Low-hanging fruits being targeted in this initiative include $750 million ‘Abacha loot’ as well as 6.9 million pounds of Ibori loot.’’

Commenting on insurgency, Malami said his ministry was processing 800 cases for prosecution.

“The resources required for the successful prosecution of these cases as well as the general coordination of the criminal justice sector act, were fully captured in the 2016 budget,” he said.

“The ministry of justice has made the original proposal to the ministry of finance.”

He said his ministry would not be able to execute capital projects this year due to the restriction placed on its allocation as a result of huge judgment debts.