The United States has agreed to transfer approximately $52.88 million in forfeited assets to the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the country’s continued assistance in oil case cooperation.
The news was announced in recognition of Nigeria’s assistance to the Justice Department in investigating corruption in the Nigerian oil industry.
According to a recent report by the legal watchdogs of the United States, the assets were forfeited by the actions of the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative of the International Unit of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS).
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) investigated the case with assistance from the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.
Nigeria gains $52.88 million in forfeited oil case assets
“The FBI remains steadfast in its commitment to the global fight against corruption,” said Assistant Director Chad Yarbrough of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division. “By ensuring these forfeited funds are repatriated to Nigeria to benefit the Nigerian people through critical projects and counterterrorism efforts, the FBI reaffirms our dedication to promoting transparency and dismantling the systems that enable corruption to thrive.”
The case revolved around the reported actions of Nigerian businessmen Kolawole Akanni Aluko and Olajide Omokore, who paid bribes to Nigeria’s former Minister for Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
In doing so, Alison-Madueke exerted her influence, as her position allowed her to secure and award oil contracts to the two businessmen. This led to over $100 million being laundered into and through the United States. The proceeds of this scheme were then used to buy luxury assets, including “real estate in California and New York as well as the Galactica Star, a 65-meter superyacht.”
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent S. Wible, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said this “agreement to return nearly $53 million in forfeited funds to support Nigeria and its people through electrification projects and cross-border efforts to combat terrorism demonstrates forfeiture’s power as a tool to help remediate the harms of corruption and to invest in our global fight against terrorism.”
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