Abubakar Malami (SAN), the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has revealed that the Nigerian government is collaborating with various jurisdictions in its efforts to recover stolen assets stashed abroad.
The AGF 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, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
Mr Malami said that Nigeria notes with great concern the incidence of illicit financial flows which go through the financial systems annually, particularly from developing to developed economies. He said the illicit flows majorly are proceeds from tax evasion and other crimes that undermine local currencies and constitute a threat to the economy.
In a statement by Dr. Umar Gwandu, Malami’s Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, the minister said Nigeria together with Pakistan, State of Palestine, Peru, Saudi Arabia and Kenya, had submitted a draft resolution entitled, “Enhancing access to and the use of Beneficial Ownership Information to facilitate the identification, recovery and return of assets,” to facilitate the identification, recovery and return of assets.
Mr Malami said the Nigerian delegation is calling for an identification of the most effective means of removing legal barriers to asset recovery, especially in the Requested States because the procedure to obtain mutual legal assistance (MLA) to identify, trace, seize, confiscate and repatriate proceeds of corruption is often complex and problematic.
