The government of the state of New Jersey in the United States has recovered on behalf of Nigeria $8.9 million looted under the cover of phoney arms purchase contracts under the previous President Goodluck Jonathan administration.

The transactions were carried out at the height of Nigeria’s war against terrorism in 2014, according to a statement from the office of the New Jersey Attorney General, Mark Temple, announcing the recovery.

The Royal Court in the state, on 12 January, granted the Attorney General’s request for the forfeiture of the sum of $8.9 million on behalf of Nigeria.

“I now intend to negotiate an asset return agreement with the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Mr Temple said in the statement released on Monday but seen by PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday.

The statement said the “tainted property” was “deposited into a Jersey bank account by Nigerian companies in 2014”.

Details of the companies or their promoters were not given in the statement.

But since 2014, there have been public scandals in Nigeria around the use of funds meant for the purchase of arms to boost Nigeria’s war against insurgency.

In late 2014, a private jet belonging to then President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ayo Oritsejafor, who was reputed for being close to then President Goodluck Jonathan, was arrested in South Africa with $10 million cash that was said to be meant for the purchase of arms.

Subsequent investigations back in Nigeria had pointed to huge diversions of Nigerian arms funds under the control of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in 2014, the penultimate year before the 2015 general elections.

The funds were meant for the procurement of arms for the fight against the long-drawn war against Boko Haram terrorists primarily domiciled in the North-east region.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleged in a series of charges it subsequently filed in court that the ONSA during the President Goodluck Jonathan administration doled out arms funds to government officials and officials of the then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the campaigns for Mr Jonathan’s reelection bid in 2014.

Some of the funds, EFCC alleged, were used for PDP’s campaign activities ahead of the 2015 general elections, while others were converted to personal use by the recipients.

Then NSA, Sambo Dasuki, who allegedly superintended over the sharing of the funds, is still undergoing trial over the scam. Other related cases are still pending in court while others have been dismissed for various reasons.

$8.9 million recovery

Speaking of the $8.9 million recovered in New Jersey, the state’s New Jersey Attorney General, Mark Temple, said, “It was more likely than not stolen from the people of Nigeria by high-ranking officials within certain departments of the Nigerian Government in 2014.”

The comment buttresses EFCC’s earlier findings, which the commission has been struggling to prove in Nigerian courts since 2015.

“Illicit payments were disguised as transactions relating to government-sanctioned contracts for the purchase of arms and aviation equipment during incursions by Boko Haram in Nigeria between 2009 and 2015,” the statement from the New Jersey Attorney General said.

Pointing to the likelihood of diverting Nigeria’s arms funds into the then-ruling party’s election campaigns in 2015, it said, “It is probable that most of the funds meant for legitimate arms procurement were diverted through foreign bank accounts to and from shell companies to family members of the former ruling party and shared amongst its members during the 2015 general elections in Nigeria and that the tainted property, in this case, was to be used for the purposes of such an illicit transaction.”

According to the statement, “the tainted property” was transferred to Jersey “as part of a corrupt scheme in operation at the time, which used third-party contractors to siphon off government funds for the personal benefit of Nigerian officials and their associates.”

It said the recovery was achieved through a “close partnership with the Federal Republic of Nigeria to recover the tainted property on behalf of the people of Nigeria.”

The recovery followed a forfeiture notice filed in the state’s Royal Court under the state’s relatively new 2018 law governing civil forfeiture of assets.

The filing was anchored on the investigations carried out by the Economic Crime and Confiscation Unit of the Law Officers’ Department (ECCU), with support from the Financial Intelligence Unit – Jerse

The New Jersey Attorney General also alluded to working “in close partnership with the Federal Republic of Nigeria to recover the tainted property on behalf of the people of Nigeria.”

READ FULL STATEMENT BELOW

On 29 November 2023, His Majesty’s Attorney General served a forfeiture notice under Article 10 (1) of the Forfeiture of Assets (Civil Proceedings) (Jersey) Law 2018 seeking the forfeiture of approximately US$8.9 million of tainted property deposited into a Jersey bank account by Nigerian companies in 2014. On 12 January 2024, the Royal Court granted the Attorney General’s application to forfeit that property.

The Attorney General successfully demonstrated that the tainted property belonged to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It was more likely than not stolen from the people of Nigeria by high-ranking officials within certain departments of the Nigerian Government in 2014. The tainted property was transferred to Jersey as part of a corrupt scheme in operation at the time, which used third party contractors to siphon off government funds for the personal benefit of Nigerian officials and their associates.

Illicit payments were disguised as transactions relating to government sanctioned contracts for the purchase of arms and aviation equipment during incursions by Boko Haram in Nigeria between 2009 and 2015. It is probable that most of the funds meant for legitimate arms procurement were diverted through foreign bank accounts to and from shell companies to family members of the former ruling party and shared amongst its members during the 2015 general elections in Nigeria and that the tainted property in this case was to be used for the purposes of such an illicit transaction.

His Majesty’s Attorney General, Mark Temple KC, said: “The Economic Crime and Confiscation Unit of the Law Officers’ Department (ECCU), with support from the Financial Intelligence Unit – Jersey, has worked in close partnership with the Federal Republic of Nigeria to recover the tainted property on behalf of the people of Nigeria. I am also grateful to the Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa for its assistance to ECCU’s investigation. The Royal Court’s order concludes a complex and long-running asset forfeiture investigation by ECCU. This case again demonstrates the effectiveness of the 2018 Forfeiture Law in recovering the proceeds of corruption and restoring that money to victims of crime. I now intend to negotiate an asset return agreement with the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Culled from Premium Times Nigeria