Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent a proposal to the U.S. Department of Justice to monitor the Nigerian Government on the management of $480 million forfeited Abacha funds for transparency and accountability.
In a letter signed by SERAP Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, dated 25 March, 2015, and addressed to Mr Tom Malinowski, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, by SERAP's Volunteer Counsel, Professor Alexander Sierck and Omolola Adekanye of Cameron LPP, Washington DC, the Civil society group stated this became necessary in the light of the unflattering indicators that the Nigerian government condones corruption in public service and its precedent on repatriated funds.
The group said: "The Department of Justice should lend itself to public suggestions and proposals prior to drafting a proposal for repatriation and disbursement of Abacha assets for Court approval. SERAP seeks the State Department’s support for this purpose."
The group expressed serious concerns about the risks of corruption and mismanagement of funds in the Nigerian Government. As stated by the group, "corruption remains the primary factor undermining democracy, human rights and economic development in Nigeria. Fostering robust anticorruption measures should therefore be a prime objective of U.S. foreign policy regarding Nigeria and other comparable nations. Accordingly, SERAP respectfully invites the State Department to support SERAP’s ongoing discussions with the U.S. Department of Justice to achieve our shared objective."
Thus, it requested that the U.S. Department of Justice publish an invitation in the Federal Register for public suggestions and comments to be made regarding inter-alia; Proposed permitted and prohibited use of the Abacha funds; Proposed framework for monitoring and evaluation of development programs; and Integration of transparency and accountability protocols in the process of disbursement.
Furthermore, the letter signed by the Executive Director explained that, "SERAP's concern about the repatriation and ultimate disbursement of these funds stems from the fact that an arrangement that would potentially allow the Nigerian government access, control or management of the funds when repatriated undermines the objective of the Kleptocracy Initiative. This is because the Nigerian government has shown no disposition towards actively combating corruption by public officials and has not promoted transparency and accountability in public spending."
The letter also explained that, "SERAP specifically notes that as testament to the above claims, the Nigerian government dropped the nine counts of corruption charges against the co-conspirators in the Abacha case, as well as in several other high profile cases of large-scale embezzlement. Indeed, in 2014, the highest honor of the Nation was conferred on the late Dictator Sani Abacha by the Nigerian government in spite of his reputation, and a co-conspirator in the Abacha matter currently holds office as a member of the Senate in Nigeria."
"The World Bank's expenditure report on the spending of the $500 million looted assets stolen by Sani Abacha, which was repatriated in 2005, indicates that the weakness in the public financial system in Nigeria and lack of a proper audit made it difficult to track the spending of those repatriated funds."
"SERAP's objective for the repatriation of these assets aligns with the policy objectives of the U.S. under the Kleptocracy Initiative with regards to repatriation of forfeited assets. However, SERAP, like the UN Convention on Corruption Coalition, is concerned about the challenges of ensuring that repatriation process and allocation of the funds will indeed be transparent, promote accountability and ultimately not undermine human rights and other interests of the true beneficiaries, the Nigerian people."
In a separate letter dated 25 March 2015 addressed to the U.S. Attorney General, the Honorable Eric Holder, Jr. "SERAP notes that the Nigerian Government has made its intentions to seek repatriation of these funds known. However under the technical provisions of the relevant U.S. Laws and going by precedents, also alluded to in your to SERAP, there is no basis for the Nigerian Government to legitimately initiate the process of repatriation unless by way of an international agreement such as in the Kazakhstan case which led to the establishment of the BOTA Foundation." The group said, "It is our understanding that at this juncture, the Department faces the challenging responsibility of establishing a method of disbursement of the funds that indeed meets the objectives of the Kleptocracy Initiative for approval by Order of Court."
"SERAP notes that there is a lot at stake for the Nigerian Nation and Her people in the event that the forfeited fund are repatriated without pragmatic controls established by a formal arrangement. Nigeria’s development and security hinges on the ultimate fight against corruption, and as the Secretary of States John Kerry has repeatedly emphasized, the U. S. shares this concern. We therefore hold that meticulous consideration of thorough proposals in form of comments and suggestions made by the public is apposite in the circumstance."