People & Money

USA Recovers $53 Million from Alison-Madueke and Associates: Lessons for Nigeria

“After EFCC secured forfeiture of nearly N10 Billion traced to Lawal, a former bank executive, the Supreme Court in 2021 ordered EFCC to return the money. Lawal’s career was mainly in the civil service and banking sector, so it remains unclear how he amassed so much wealth but despite all that, the Supreme Court still was convinced that Lawal had legitimately earned billions of naira. With the aid of this wealth, Lawal was recently elected as governor of Zamfara State”.

In case you haven’t heard, the United States has helped Nigeria to recover $53 million in fraud proceeds involving Nigerian former oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, and her associates, Kola Aluko, and Jide Omokore. The recovery by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is a clear indication of the US government’s commitment to tackling global corruption. It’s also yet an example of the effectiveness of the Americans in helping Nigeria to recover its stolen wealth.

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As Nigeria remains plagued by widespread corruption, billions of dollars of our money have been stolen by corrupt politicians, civil servants, and their cronies in the last decades. The USA has been one of the most active countries in helping Nigeria to recover stolen assets, starting from the money stolen by the late dictator, General Sani Abacha.

Thanks to its robust legal framework and enforcement mechanisms for combating financial crimes such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the Money Laundering Control Act, the American law enforcement structure is able to investigate and prosecute individuals who engage in corrupt practices, even if they are not American citizens or companies. Unlike in Nigeria, where corrupt individuals can easily get away with their crimes with technicalities and such, the Americans have instituted a high bar for an individual to reclaim money suspected to have been stolen.

According to the DOJ in this case, the department “recovered roughly $53.1 million in cash – constituting the net liquidated value of the defendant’s assets – plus a promissory note with a principal value of $16 million.” The DOJ suspects that the money stolen from Nigeria in schemes involving Alison-Madueke, Aluko, and Omokore, is around $100m. It is impressive that nearly 70% of it has been recovered.

The DOJ said, “these cases were brought under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. This initiative is led by a team of dedicated prosecutors in the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section… In 2015, the FBI formed International Corruption Squads across the country to address national and international implications of foreign corruption.”

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The US has played a leading role in the establishment of the global framework for combating money laundering and terrorist financing. Being a founding member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organization that sets international standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing, the USA has leveraged its considerable influence to ensure that anti-laundering standards are adopted by many countries.  The Open Government Partnership (OGP), an initiative launched in 2011 that brings together governments, civil society organizations, and the private sector to promote transparency and citizen participation in government, has been advanced in Nigeria and other countries. It has benefitted from funding and support from the USA. More work needs to be done however in the country where the crimes are actually committed.

A major challenge in recovering stolen assets within Nigeria is the country’s own judicial system. The Nigerian government must work to strengthen the capacity of its law enforcement agencies and judicial system to ensure that corrupt officials are held accountable for their actions. This includes providing training and resources to law enforcement officers, improving the efficiency and transparency of the judicial system, and ensuring that the legal framework for combating corruption is effective and enforced.

Nigeria has made some progress in this area, but more needs to be done to ensure that corrupt officials are held accountable for their actions. There can be no progress in the fight against corruption if the agencies tasked with fighting corruption and the judiciary that should enforce justice refuse to do their job.

For anyone following corruption trials in Nigeria, the case of Dauda Lawal should still be fresh in mind. After EFCC secured forfeiture of nearly N10 Billion traced to Lawal, a former bank executive, the Supreme Court in 2021 ordered EFCC to return the money. Lawal’s career was mainly in the civil service and banking sector, so it remains unclear how he amassed so much wealth but despite all that, the Supreme Court still was convinced that Lawal had legitimately earned billions of naira. With the aid of this wealth, Lawal was recently elected as governor of Zamfara State.

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There is a limit to what a foreign country like the USA can do in taming corruption in Nigeria. While the USA can help to recover money laundered within its borders, it is up to Nigeria to rigorously apply its laws to plug the holes nourishing corruption and to ensure that money that is stolen can be easily recovered. Nigeria can learn valuable lessons from the US’s approach to fighting corruption, one of which is the importance of having strong legal frameworks and enforcement mechanisms for combating financial crimes.

Sodiq Alabi

Sodiq Alabi is a communications practitioner and analyst who has experience in leading and supporting communication processes. He has expertise in organising media events, preparing reports, creating content, and managing websites and social media platforms.

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