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Nigeria forming agency to manage seized cash and property

Published 16/09/2020, 21:43

ABUJA, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Nigeria plans to form an agency
to manage the hundreds of millions of dollars in assets seized
domestically or returned from abroad following anti-corruption
probes, the justice minister said on Wednesday.
The oil-producing nation has repatriated more than $300
million this year that officials determined were the proceeds of
corruption. Last year, it seized $40 million worth of jewellery
and a gold iPhone from a property in Nigeria belonging to a
former oil minister.
The anti-graft agency in the past has also seized an
ill-gotten apartment block and other real estate.
Justice Minister Abubakar Malami said the plan would create
a one-stop shop to manage seized assets in an open and
accountable way.
Malami called the plan the "next level of transparency," and
said the agency could also give the Finance Ministry a budget
for recovered assets.
Nigeria has struggled for decades with endemic corruption,
and U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley raised concerns this year about
the return of money due to worries over whether there were
"proper safeguards to prevent the further misuse of funds."
Currently, seized or returned cash and assets go to
whichever agency got them, be it the police, state security
service or the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
In July, Nigeria suspended the EFCC chief after the justice
minister accused the agency of diverting funds that had been
recovered during investigations into graft.

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