HSBC Watch News Release Forum Index
Forum Name: - Social Responsibility
Topic Title: Banks to pay back money plundered from Nigeria
Wed Feb 02, 2005 10:46 pm
British banks are about to start repaying Nigeria a large part of the US$1.3 billion ($1.9 billion) looted from its central bank during the dictatorship of the late General Sani Abacha, according to sources at the UN Office on Drugs and Corruption.
Abacha was Nigeria's dictator from 1993 to 1998, and the gang which surrounded him probably made away with at least US$5 billion.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Metropolitan Police estimate that US$1.3billion of this came to Britain, a small amount of which has already been returned.
In London, branches of ANZ Banking, Banque Nationale de Paris, Barclays, Citibank, First Bank of Boston, HSBC, NatWest and Standard Bank of South Africa were among those that held funds looted by Abacha.
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