FG collaborating with various jurisdictions on asset recovery – Malami

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, SAN says Nigeria is collaborating with various jurisdictions in its efforts to recover stolen assets stashed abroad.

Malami made this known at the ninth session of the Conference of States Parties to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) holding in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt.

The minister in a statement by Dr Umar Gwandu, his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, on Monday noted that the essence was to further highlight the importance of beneficial ownership transparency.

He said Nigeria, together with Pakistan, State of Palestine, Peru, Saudi Arabia and Kenya submitted a draft resolution entitled: “Enhancing Access to, and Use of, Beneficial Ownership Information” to facilitate the identification, recovery and return of assets.

He said that significant progress had been recorded in the efforts to combat corruption in Nigeria.

“We will continue to make significant progress in our efforts to prevent and combat corruption, block leakages and recover our stolen assets,’’ Malami said.

He recalled that new laws and acts had been enacted by Nigerian government to better combat corruption in the country.

“An effective Criminal Justice System is necessary for investigation and sanctioning corruption. Nigeria implementing the Justice Sector Reform Strategy is actively involved in International Cooperation Mechanisms, Mutual Legal Assistance and reform of the Criminal Justice System.

“We recently enacted a Mutual Legal Assistance Law in line with the recommendations from the UNCAC review, and also enacted the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit Act, to create a stand-alone Financial Intelligence Unit,” he said.