The Criminal Assets Bureau has secured orders freezing investment bonds worth US$6.5m (€5.22m) in Irish accounts which were allegedly misappropriated by the family of a deceased Nigerian military dictator, General Sani Abacha.
The bonds were obtained with money illegally taken out of Nigeria before being laundered to Ireland via institutions in Switzerland, London, and New York, the Bureau alleges.
CAB also claims the nature of the bonds breach Irish laws on tax evasion and are linked to the late General's eldest surviving son, Mohammed Sani Abacha.
CAB earlier this month obtained a temporary order freezing the accounts. That order was granted ex parte (one side only represented) under Section 2 of the Proceeds of Crime Act.
When the matter returned before Mr Justice Raymond Fullam yesterday, Benedict Ó Floinn BL, for the Bureau, said the bonds are linked to the regime of the late General which had taken "an eye-watering amount of money" from the Nigerian state.
CAB believes the monies used to acquire the bonds were illegally procured in two ways before being laundered to Ireland, counsel outlined.
The first method involved the regime directly taking funds from Nigeria's Central Bank while the second method involved foreign corporations operating in Nigeria, he said.
The companies were informed by the General’s associates the contracts allowing them operate in Nigeria would be considered invalid unless the regime was “paid a percentage of the contract’s value” in order to re-validate them, he said.
After CAB obtained the freezing orders, efforts to serve notice of the proceedings on Mohammed Sani Abacha, with an address in Nigeria, had been "thwarted", Mr Ó Floinn said. This arose due to internal conflict in Nigeria and the problem of Ebola in the West Africa region.
Counsel asked that the matter be adjourned to allow for a later update on the efforts to serve Mohammed Abacha.
The judge agreed to adjourn the matter and to continue the freezing orders until later this month.
General Sani Abacha ruled Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998 and, during his reign, the late dictator, his family and their associates are alleged to have looted €6.4 billion from the Nigerian state. The late General’s family have rejected those claims.
Since the General’s death, the Nigerian government has been involved in a world wide trawl seeking the return of allegedly misappropriated funds which it claims were laundered through foreign banks.
Earlier this year, the US Justice Department seized more than $480 million in assets allegedly hidden around the world by the former dictator.