General Sani Abacha was a Nigerian army officer and de facto president
between 1993 until his death in 1998. He laundered money through the US
into the Channel Islands and now that money has been recovered.
The money was put in accounts held in Jersey by Doraville Properties
Corporation, a British Virgin Islands company.
The money is now being held by the government until authorities in
Jersey, the US and Nigeria come to an agreement on how it should be
distributed.
Any money that Jersey does keep will be put into the Criminal
Confiscation Fund, which is used to pay for a variety of projects. In
the past the fund has been used for the new police station and
developments at La Moye Prison.
It is expected that even more money held by Doraville is likely to be
seized and paid into the Civil Asset Recovery Fund in the future.
Attorney General Robert MacRae said: ‘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, and in achieving the
payment of the bulk of the funds into the Civil Asset Recovery Fund,
Jersey has once again demonstrated its commitment to tackling
international financial crime and money laundering.’
In 2014, at the request of the US authorities, the Island’s Attorney
General applied for, and the Royal Court granted, a restraining order
over the Jersey bank account balance of Doraville.
The purpose of the restraining order was to preserve the money until a
final civil asset recovery order could be registered in the Royal Court.
Doraville applied to the Royal Court for the restraint order to be
discharged, but the Royal Court dismissed the application in 2016. Then
in 2017, Doraville challenged the Royal Court’s decision, taking the
case to Jersey’s Court of Appeal. That challenge was again rejected.
Finally, following the decision of Jersey’s Court of Appeal, Doraville
made an application to appeal against the restraint order before the
Privy Council – Jersey’s ultimate appellate court. In February 2018 the
Privy Council announced its rejection of this final legal challenge.
Last week, Solicitor General Mark Temple gave a presentation in Vienna,
Austria, about Doraville at a UN conference on corruption.
He said: ‘The conference of the States Parties to the United Nations
convention against corruption is an important international forum
concerned with anti-corruption measures and asset returns.
‘The conference was a good opportunity to demonstrate progress with the
Doraville case, as well as Jersey’s determination to deal with
international financial crime more generally.’
Courtesy:MetroUk