UK seizes $9m looted under Jonathan

The Royal Court in Jersey, United Kingdom has seized about $9 million embezzled by government officials during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

The funds were said to have been embezzled by Nigerian government officials and hidden in a Jersey bank account.

The money, it was learnt, was part of funds earmarked for arms and aviation equipment purchases to combat the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria.

The funds were transferred to Jersey in 2014, with authorities stating that it was likely that most of the funds allocated for arms deals between 2009 and 2015 were diverted through foreign bank accounts and shell companies to benefit family members of the former ruling party in Nigeria.

Jonathan was in power between 2010 and 2015 under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In a statement issued by the court on Monday, Jersey’s Attorney General, Mark Temple, said a forfeiture notice was initiated in November 2023 under the Forfeiture of Assets (Civil Proceedings) (Jersey) Law 2018 to seize the funds.

Temple stated that the Jersey’s Law Officers Department (LOD) considered the property tainted.

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The Royal Court, according to him, granted the application on Friday, paving the way for the restitution of the funds to Nigeria.

“The Attorney General successfully demonstrated that the tainted property belonged to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It was more likely than not stolen from the people of Nigeria by high-ranking officials within certain departments of the Nigerian Government in 2014,” he noted.

Temple stressed the effectiveness of the asset forfeiture investigation, acknowledging the collaboration between the Economic Crime and Confiscation Unit of the Law Officers’ Department, the Financial Intelligence Unit Jersey, and the National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa.

This is not the first time Jersey authorities will recover embezzled funds from Nigeria.

In 2020, over $300 million misappropriated under former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, and hidden in Jersey bank accounts, was repatriated to Nigeria following a landmark agreement.

The funds had been moved through the United States’ banking system before being held in Jersey accounts in the name of Doraville Properties Corporation, a British Virgin Islands company.

The Star