The United States ambassador to Nigeria said it took her country 15 years to recover the stolen assets from Mr Alamieyeseigha, a former governor of Bayelsa State.
The United States on Thursday signed an agreement with the Nigerian government for the return of about $1 million stolen by a former governor of Bayelsa State, the late Deprieye Alamieyeseigha.
Mr Alamieyeseigha, who was governor of Bayelsa in South-south Nigeria between 1999 and 2005, died in October 2015.
He was arrested in London in September 2005 over corruption allegations but managed to jump bail and returned to Nigeria.
He was removed from office by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly in December 2005 to face trial.
Although later pardoned by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, Mr Alamieyeseigha was convicted on 26 July 2007 by the Federal High Court after he pleaded guilty to corruption charges and conceded to the forfeiture of assets confiscated from him.
Based on mutual cooperation, funds traced to him in the United Kingdom and the United States were also confiscated.
At the signing of the agreement for the repatriation of funds seized from him by the US government, in Abuja on Thursday, the US ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard, said the funds would be deployed to funding healthcare services in Bayelsa State.
“As a result of today’s agreement, healthcare across Bayelsa will be improved through the rehabilitation, refurbishment and reequipping of healthcare centres as requested by the state,” she said at the ceremony held at the Federal Ministry of Justice.
The recovery process
Recalling the 15-year journey of recovering the stolen assets, Ms Leonard disclosed that Mr Alamieyeseigha’s “official salary did not exceed the equivalent of about 81,000 dollars per year.”
“However, during that time, he (Alamieyeseigha) accumulated millions of dollars’ worth of property due to corrupt acts such as abuse of office, money laundering and other violations of Nigerian and US laws,” the US ambassador added.
Citing the UN convention against corruption, she restated the US government’s commitment to tackling corrupt practices.
To forestall issues of recovered proceeds being re-looted, Ms Leonard said, “recovered proceeds will be transformed into assets that benefit the people harmed by underlying corrupt conduct, to improve the lives of average Nigerians, not a corrupt elite.”
She further pledged that the US would continue “to deny safe havens to corrupt actors and the assets they have illicitly acquired.”
Buhari approves return of stolen assets
Speaking earlier, Nigeria’s Attorney-General, Abubakar Malami, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary and Solicitor-General of the Federation, thanked the US government for returning looted funds to Nigeria.
“… this asset return arose from the forfeiture and recovery of approximately $1 million USD linked to the corrupt practices of former Bayelsa State governor DSP Alamieyeseigha,” the minister recalled.
He said the forfeited assets totalling $954.807.40 were located in Maryland and Massachusetts.
The AGF noted that following a US court order and negotiations between the two governments, President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the terms of an agreement that would lead to investing the repatriated funds in providing healthcare projects for the people of Bayelsa.
In a remark, the Bayelsa State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Biriyai Dambo, promised to implement the terms of the agreement for the project.
Mr Dambo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), represented Governor Duoye Diri, who is bereaved.
Mr Alamieyeseigha was removed from office in 2005 over corruption allegations.
Mr Alamieyeseigha, who was the first executive governor of Bayelsa, was later tried and jailed for stealing.
However, former President Goodluck Jonathan, who served as Mr Alamieyeseigha’s deputy governor, pardoned him.
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