When Nigeria’s then head of state, Sani Abacha, stole billions of dollars and died before spending his loot, it led to an international treasure hunt that spread over decades. The man hired to recover the money tells Clare Spencer of the BBC how the search took over his life.
In September 1999, Swiss lawyer Enrico Monfrini answered a phone call that would change his next 20 years.
“He called me in the middle of the night, asked me if I could go to his hotel, he had something important. I said, ‘It’s a little late, but that’s okay.’ ”
The voice at the end of the line was that of a senior Nigerian government official.
– Can you find the money?
Monfrini says the officer was sent to Geneva by then-Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to recruit him to seize the money stolen by Abacha, who ruled from 1993 until his death in 1998.
As a lawyer, Mr. Monfrini has built a Nigerian client base since the 1980s, working with coffee, cocoa and other commodities.
He suspects that these customers have recommended him.
“He asked me, ‘Can you find the money and can you block the money? Can you arrange for this money to be returned to Nigeria? ‘
“I said yes.’ But, in fact, I didn’t know much about work at the time. And I had to learn very quickly, so I did. “
To begin with, the Nigerian police gave him the details of some accounts closed at Swiss banks, which appeared to contain part of the money Abacha and his associates had stolen, Monfrini wrote in the book Recovering Stolen Assets.
He said a preliminary investigation published by the police in November 1998 found that more than $ 1.5 billion (£ 1.1 billion) was stolen by Abacha and his associates.
‘Dollars per truck’
One of the methods used to accumulate such a colossal sum was particularly blatant.
Abacha would tell an advisor to ask him for money for a vague security issue.
He then signed the order that the consultant would take to the central bank, which would distribute the money, usually in cash.
The advisor would then take most of that money to Abacha’s house.
Some were even taken on dollar bills “by truck,” wrote Monfrini.
This was just one of the ways in which Abacha and his associates stole large amounts of money. Other methods ranged from awarding state contracts to friends at highly inflated prices and then pocketing the difference and requiring foreign companies to pay high fees to operate in the country.
This lasted for about three years, until everything changed when Abacha died suddenly, at age 54, on June 8, 1998.
It is not clear whether he had a heart attack or was poisoned because there was no autopsy, his personal doctor told the BBC.
Abacha died before spending the stolen billions and some bank details served as clues as to where the money was hidden.
“The documents that show the account history gave me some links to other accounts,” said Monfrini.
Armed with this information, he took the matter to the Swiss attorney general.
And then a breakthrough came.
Monfrini successfully argued that the Abacha family and their associates formed a criminal organization.
This was critical because it opened up more options on how the authorities could handle their bank accounts.
Who was Sani Abacha?
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Fought in the Nigerian army during the civil war
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Key player in two strokes before becoming defense minister in August 1993
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He became head of state in a military coup in November 1993
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Your government is accused of widespread human rights abuses
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Nigeria suspended from Commonwealth after execution of nine human rights activists in 1995
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He died unexpectedly on June 8, 1998, at the age of 54
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Father of 10 children
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The attorney general issued a general alert to all Swiss banks demanding that they reveal the existence of open accounts with the names and pseudonyms of the Abachas.
“Within 48 hours, 95% of banks and other financial institutions declared what they owned that appeared to belong to the family.”
This would reveal a web of bank accounts worldwide.
“The banks would deliver documents to the prosecutor in Geneva and I would do the prosecutor’s job because he did not have time to do so,” Monfrini told the BBC.
‘Bank accounts talk a lot’
“We would find out in each account exactly where the money came from and / or where the money went to.
“Showing the ins and outs of these bank accounts gave me more information about other payments received from other countries and sent to other countries.
“So it was like a snowball. It started with a few beads and then a large number of beads, which in turn created a snowball effect indicating a major international operation.
“Bank accounts and the accompanying documents speak volumes.
“We had so much evidence of sending different money here and there, Bahamas, Nassau, Cayman Islands – you name it.”
The size of the Abacha network represented a great effort for Monfrini.
“Nobody seems to understand how much work this entails. I have to pay so many people, so many accountants, so many other lawyers in different countries.”
Mr. Monfrini agreed to a 4% commission on the money sent back to Nigeria. A fee he insists was comparatively “very cheap”.
Finding the money turned out to be relatively quick compared to returning it to Nigeria.
“The abachas fought like dogs. They appealed about everything we did. It delayed the process for a long time.”
Further delays occurred when Swiss politicians discussed whether the money would be stolen again if it were returned.
Some money was returned from Switzerland after five years.
Monfrini wrote in 2008 that $ 508 million found in the many bank accounts of the Abacha family in Switzerland were sent from Switzerland to Nigeria between 2005 and 2007.
In 2018, the amount Switzerland returned to Nigeria reached more than $ 1 billion.
Other countries took longer to return the money.
“Liechtenstein, for example, was a catastrophe. It was a nightmare.”
In June 2014, Liechtenstein ended up sending $ 277 million to Nigeria.
Six years later, in May 2020, $ 308 million held in accounts on the Channel Island of Jersey was also returned to Nigeria. This only happened after Nigerian authorities agreed that the money would be used, specifically, to help finance the construction of the Niger’s Second Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and the Abuja-Kano road.
Some countries have not yet returned the withdrawal.
Monfrini still expects $ 30 million that he says is in the UK to be returned, along with $ 144 million in France and another $ 18 million in Jersey.
It should be, “but you never know,” he says.
In total, he says his work secured a refund of just over $ 2.4 billion.
“In the beginning, people said that Abacha stole at least $ 4- $ 5 billion. I don’t think that was the case. I think we more or less took most of it, we took a large part of what they had.”
He heard rumors that the Abacha family is no longer as wealthy.
Or, as he says, “They are not swimming in money like they used to in the past.”
When he looks back, he seems satisfied with his job.
“When I talk to my many children about this case, I tell them that I found money and blocked the money, persuaded the authorities to go after these people and take the money back to the country for the good of the Nigerian people.
“We did the job.”