LAGOS, March 18: The family of Nigeria’s late military ruler Sani Abacha is close to reaching a deal to return 1.2 billion dollars stolen from public funds in return for “an official pardon”, daily This Day reported.

The out-of-court settlement between the family and the government is being worked out by Justice Minister Kanu Agabi and representatives of the Abacha family. It follows more than three years of government efforts to recover money transferred abroad under the 1993-1998 Abacha regime.

The family was already reported to have returned 750 million dollars months after the death of Abacha in June 1998 and in January the government announced that a further 168 million dollars had been returned.

Government officials and Abacha family representatives were not immediately available on Monday to comment on the report in This Day.

If confirmed, the deal would have an impact in a number of European countries where money linked to the Abacha family is reported to be located.

In the past three years, banks in Britain, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland have all frozen accounts linked to the family.

In total, the family is reported to have diverted between three and four billion dollars of public funds out of the country during Abacha’s rule but how much of that money is now recoverable is unclear.

According to the report in This Day, the government pardon would put a halt to all prosecutions save on criminal matters.—AFP