January 4, 2002	Friday	Shawwal 19, 1422

LAGOS, Jan 3: The family of late dictator Sani Abacha has returned $148 million to the Nigerian government, officials said on Thursday.

Abacha, who ruled Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998, has been accused of embezzling some $3 billion while in power.

“The family of the late head of state, General Sani Abacha, two weeks ago paid back to the Federal Government the sum of 163,116,061.99 euros ($147.5 million),” President Olusegun Obasanjo’s spokesman Tunji Oseni said in a statement.

Britain’s High Court ordered last year that Mecosta Securities, owned by the Abacha family, repay 300 million German marks defrauded from ($7.50 million) the government in a 973-million-mark debt buy-back scheme, the statement said.

The amount includes interest of 18.8 million marks.

Britain’s Financial Services Authority had found that 23 London banks had handled $1.3 billion on behalf of Abacha’s family and friends.

Swiss authorities have frozen $550 million in accounts allegedly belonging to Abacha, his eldest surviving son Mohammed, widow Mariam, brother Abdulkadir and entourage.

Another $630 million was found in accounts in a Luxembourg subsidiary of a German bank, belonging to offshore companies linked to two of Abacha’s sons.—Reuters