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

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