Mohammed Abacha \u2014 the son of late former\u00a0 Nigerian military dictator,
\nGeneral Sani Abacha\u00a0 stole about N446.3 Billion from Government treasury
\nbetween 1995 and 1998, court documents have revealed.<\/p>\n
The heir of the late Military dictator is currently facing fresh criminal
\nlawsuit from the Government over the monumental theft carried out while
\nhis father reigned.<\/p>\n
The latest lawsuit follows a decision by the Nigerian Supreme Court in
\nJanuary ordering the Nigerian government to file fresh charges against the
\ndictator\u2019s son. Also, the US Government recently froze assets belonging to
\nthe late dictator through its kleptocracy initiative.<\/p>\n
In the nine-count charge filed by private prosecutor, Daniel Enwelum upon
\na fiat dated\u00a0 February 18th, 2014 by Attorney General of the Federation,
\nMohammed Adoke, the government accused Mohammed of \u201cdishonestly receiving
\nstolen property\u201d and \u201cvoluntarily assisting in concealing money.\u201d<\/p>\n
This fresh charge substitutes an earlier 121-count filed against Mohammed
\nand Atiku Bagudu \u2014 the late ruler\u2019s ally. However, Bagudu was excluded
\nfrom the fresh charge.<\/p>\n
According to a new charge, dated March\u00a0 24th, 2014, Mohammed hid
\n\u00a3141,100,000 $384,353,000 in cash and travellers cheques.<\/p>\n
Mohammed, in Count One, is alleged to have dishonestly received between
\nAugust and December 1995 in Abuja, $36,480,000.00 made up of cash and
\ntravellers\u2019 cheques \u2014 property of the Federal Government \u2014 believed to
\nhave been stolen.<\/p>\n
In Count Two, he is alleged, between August and December 1995 in Abuja, to
\nhave voluntarily assisted in concealing $57,960,000.00 believed to have
\nbeen stolen from the Federal Government.<\/p>\n
In another count, he was accused of receiving $26,913,500.00 believed to
\nhave been stolen from the Federal Government, between October and December
\n1996.<\/p>\n
He was also accused, within the same time, of voluntarily assisting in
\nconcealing $26,913,500.00 allegedly stolen from the Federal Government.
\nAlso in June 1997 in Abuja, he allegedly dishonestly received
\n$10,000,000.00 believed to have been stolen from the Federal Government.<\/p>\n
Count Six accused him of dishonestly receiving, between February and
\nDecember 1997, $87,000,000 and \u00a341,143,000 believed to have been stolen
\nfrom the Federal Government.<\/p>\n
Two other counts accused Mohammed of voluntarily assisting in concealing
\nthe amounts mentioned in count six, and dishonestly receiving (between
\nJanuary and August 1998), $167,000,000 and \u00a399,957,000 believed to have
\nbeen stolen from the Federal Government.<\/p>\n
The alleged offences are punishable under sections 317 and 319 of the
\nPenal Code.<\/p>\n
Mohammed was to be arraigned on Thursday before Justice Mamman Kolo of the
\nHigh Court of the Federal Capital Territory, but the accused was absent in
\ncourt.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Enwelum notified the judge of Mohammed\u2019s unwillingness to
\nturn up in court, despite having been served with the charge and with
\nevidence to that effect in a an affidavit sworn to by bailiff of the court<\/p>\n
He urged the court to accept the fresh charge and consider the receipt of
\nthe charge by the defence lawyer, Abdulllahi Haruna, as an appropriate
\nservice.<\/p>\n
Haruna defended Mohammed\u2019s absence, saying he was unaware of the new
\ncharge and imploring the court to adjourn the case to a further date to so
\nthat the accused would be present in court.<\/p>\n
Justice Kolo accepted the amended charge, also granting an order
\ndischarging Bagudu from the charge. He adjourned the hearing to 29th April
\n2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mohammed Abacha \u2014 the son of late former\u00a0 Nigerian military dictator, General Sani Abacha\u00a0 stole about N446.3 Billion from Government treasury between 1995 and 1998, court documents have revealed. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n