U.S. Puts More Abacha Loots On ICE - $458 Million USD (N76 Billion Naira) FROZEN!!!

Yesterday, March 5th, 2014, the United States Government ordered a freeze on $458 million in assets hidden in European accounts by former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and his cohorts. According to the Justice Department the corruption proceeds, stashed away in bank accounts in Britain, France and Jersey, were frozen at Washington’s request with the help of local authorities. 
According to a civil forfeiture complaint unsealed in the US District Court in Washington, the department wants the recover more than $550 million in connection with the action. Acting Attorney General, Mythili Raman said: "This is the largest civil forfeiture action to recover the proceeds of foreign official corruption ever brought by the department... General Abacha was one of the most notorious kleptocrats in memory, who embezzled billions from the people of Nigeria while millions lived in poverty... "Abacha, his son Mohammed Sani Abacha, their associate Abubakar Atiku Bagudu and others embezzled, misappropriated and extorted billions from the government of Nigeria and others, then laundered their criminal proceeds through the purchase of bonds backed by the United States using US financial institutions... this action sends a “clear message” that the United States is determined and equipped to confiscate the ill-gotten riches of corrupt leaders who drain the resources of their countries.”
Details of the Frozen assets are:
Approximately $313 million in two bank accounts in the Bailiwick of Jersey and $145 million in two bank accounts in France.
Four investment portfolios and three bank accounts in Britain were frozen, with an estimated value of at least $100 million but the exact amounts in the accounts have not yet been determined.
five corporate entities registered in the British Virgin Islands.

The Justice Department said that on February 25 and 26, authorities in Jersey, France and Britain complied with the US action to freeze the assets.
Abacha and others had systematically embezzled billions of dollars in public funds from Nigeria’s central bank on the false pretense that the funds were necessary for national security. They withdrew the funds in cash and then moved the money overseas through US financial institutions. Abacha and his finance minister, Anthony Ani, also allegedly caused the Nigerian government to buy Nigerian government bonds at vastly inflated prices from a company controlled by Bagudu and Mohammed Abacha. That operation created an an illegal windfall of more than $282 million. In addition, Abacha and his co-conspirators allegedly extorted more than $11 million from a French civil engineering company, Dumez, and its Nigerian affiliate in connection with payments on government contracts. Funds involved in each of these schemes were laundered through the United States in nine financial institutions, the complaint alleged. The financial institutions involved include Citibank, Chase Manhattan Bank and Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, now JPMorgan Chase, and New York-based units of Britain’s Barclays Bank and Germany’s Commerzbank.