US agrees to help Nigeria recover looted funds

    

Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu

The United States of America has agreed to assist Nigeria to recover funds stolen from the country and stashed in foreign banks.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

Shehu said the US would also help in training judicial officers and prosecutors “in order to place Nigeria in a good position to uncover the proceeds of corruption and for improved prosecution of cases of crime.”

He said the decisions were part of the agreements reached during President Muhammadu Buhari’s meeting with the US Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, in Washington DC.

Buhari is currently on a four-day official visit to the US.

“In line with expectations, the United States government has agreed to assist Nigeria recover all identified ill-gotten wealth in countries in which they have jurisdiction, including the US itself,” Shehu wrote.

He said the meeting centred on support for the war on corruption in Nigeria.

The presidential spokesman said indications from the meeting showed that the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty signed by the two countries in 1985 which came into effect in 2003 would be made functional.

“There will be collaboration. Each of the two countries will receive legal assistance from each other on criminal matters and that should cover the recovery of ill-gotten wealth.

“On extradition, we already have a treaty with the US by virtue of being a former British colonial territory.

“There is, however, the possibility that Nigeria might negotiate a new extradition treaty to meet our other requirements.

“The negotiation will be done under the auspices of a ‘re-energised’ US-Nigeria Bi-National Commission,” Shehu added