Britain-Nigeria-Abacha Nigerian government orders audit of London account LAGOS, March 9 (AFP) - The Nigerian government has ordered an audit into its special accounts in London after a recent court ruling that the family of ex-dictator Sani Abacha should refund the sum of 143 million dollars. A London High Court recently awarded the Nigerian government a settlement sum of 300 million DM (143 million dollars) in its legal battle with the Abacha family over a steel project debt buy-back scam. An official statement by the Nigerian presidency on March 1 said that the government is to receive the sum as settlement on its 21-month-long case on the gigantic multi-billion naira Ajaokuta steel project scam. A report in Friday's Vanguard newspaper, quoting an official document, said that the auditing of its accounts in London was expedient following the court ruling in order to safeguard its various deposits. There has been no official confirmation of the newspaper report. The Abacha family had wanted to pay 300 million German marks as "full and final settlement" for all monies looted from Nigeria when Abacha ruled from November 1993 to June 1998 when he died. Sani Abacha's eldest son, Mohammed, is currently facing corruption and murder charges respectively in Abuja and Lagos courts. An Abuja high court said Thursday it will give ruling on April 10 in the corruption trial involving Abacha and his business associates. The prosecution said that there was substantial evidence to prove that the huge sums of money found in Abacha's account were looted from the treasury of the Nigerian government when his father was in power. Britain reprimanded 15 banks on Thursday for inadequate money laundering controls when handling the accounts of the late Nigerian dictator. The criticism followed a three-month probe into 23 banks in Britain holding accounts linked to Abacha family members and close associates. In total, the turnover on the 42 accounts identified amounted to 1.3 billion dollars (1.4 billion euros) from 1996 to 2000, although not all of it was necessarily the proceeds of crime, Britain's Financial Services Authority (FSA) said. About 98 percent of that was channelled through British operations of the 15 banks, which included British banks and others based both inside and outside the European Union. The FSA concluded that the 15 banks had "significant control weaknesses," although eight had since corrected the shortcomings. Phillip Thorpe, FSA managing director, said the extent of the weaknesses identified was "frankly disappointing." Abacha, who died in June 1998, is accused in Nigeria of having diverted some three billion dollars of public funds into secret accounts in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. ade/nb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------