Commuters pass by the front of the Bangladesh central bank building in Dhaka March 8, 2016. REUTERS/Ashikur Rahman/File Photo

MANILA (Reuters) - A Philippine regional trial court has ordered the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to return to the Bangladesh central bank a recovered portion of the $81 million that was stolen from the bank earlier this year, a government lawyer said on Monday.

The court has declared Bangladesh as the rightful owner of the funds, totaling $15 million, Ricardo Paras III, chief state counsel of the Philippines’ Department of Justice, said while reading a copy of the court’s ruling to a Reuters reporter.

Unknown hackers tried to steal nearly $1 billion from the Bangladesh central bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in early February, and succeeded in transferring $81 million to four accounts at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in Manila.

During a Philippine Senate hearing into the heist which ended in May, a casino junket operator claimed to have received $35 million of the stolen funds but only returned $15 million. It is not clear what happened to the remainder of the money.

Bangladesh had to file a petition staking its claim to the money before it could be turned over to them.

“(The) court ordered the release of the cash now in the BSP vault in favor of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh,” Paras told Reuters.

Bangladesh is also seeking to recover another $2.7 million frozen by the Philippines’ casino regulator. </s> The court has declared Bangladesh as the rightful owner of the funds, totaling $15 million, Ricardo Paras III, chief state counsel of the Philippines' Department of Justice, said while reading a copy of the court's ruling to a Reuters reporter.

Unknown hackers tried to steal nearly $1 billion from the Bangladesh central bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in early February, and succeeded in transferring $81 million to four accounts at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in Manila.

During a Philippine Senate hearing into the heist which ended in May, a casino junket operator claimed to have received $35 million of the stolen funds but only returned $15 million. It is not clear what happened to the remainder of the money.

Bangladesh had to file a petition staking its claim to the money before it could be turned over to them.

"(The) court ordered the release of the cash now in the BSP vault in favor of the People's Republic of Bangladesh," Paras told Reuters.

Bangladesh is also seeking to recover another $2.7 million frozen by the Philippines' casino regulator. </s> Money to the value of £211,000,000 has been seized by the United Kingdom from a Jersey bank account that belonged to former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, reports MetroUK on Tuesday.

General Sani Abacha was head of state between 1993 until his death in 1998.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on several occasions questioned the veracity of reports that Abacha looted billions of dollars from the country’s treasury.

The report said Abacha laundered money through the US into the Channel Islands and now that money has been recovered.

It noted that the money was put in accounts held in Jersey by Doraville Properties Corporation, a British Virgin Islands company.

The money, it said, is now being held by the government until authorities in Jersey, the US and Nigeria come to an agreement on how it should be distributed.

It also noted that any money that Jersey does keep will be put into the Criminal Confiscation Fund, which is used to pay for a variety of projects.

In the past, it noted, the fund has been used for the new police station and developments at La Moye Prison.

It is expected that even more money held by Doraville is likely to be seized and paid into the Civil Asset Recovery Fund in the future, the report noted.

“In restraining the funds at the request of the United States of America, through whose banking system the funds were laundered prior to arriving here, and in achieving the payment of the bulk of the funds into the Civil Asset Recovery Fund, Jersey has once again demonstrated its commitment to tackling international financial crime and money laundering”, Attorney General Robert MacRae said.

The report noted that in 2014, at the request of the US authorities, the Island’s Attorney General applied for, and the Royal Court granted, a restraining order over the Jersey bank account balance of Doraville. The purpose of the restraining order was to preserve the money until a final civil asset recovery order could be registered in the Royal Court, MetroUK noted.

It said Doraville applied to the Royal Court for the restraint order to be discharged, but the Royal Court dismissed the application in 2016. Then in 2017, Doraville challenged the Royal Court’s decision, taking the case to Jersey’s Court of Appeal, it said.

That challenge was again rejected. Finally, following the decision of Jersey’s Court of Appeal, Doraville made an application to appeal against the restraint order before the Privy Council – Jersey’s ultimate appellate court, the reported explained.

It said in February 2018 the Privy Council announced its rejection of this final legal challenge. Last week, Solicitor General Mark Temple gave a presentation in Vienna, Austria, about Doraville at a UN conference on corruption.

He said: “The conference of the States Parties to the United Nations convention against corruption is an important international forum concerned with anti-corruption measures and asset returns.

“The conference was a good opportunity to demonstrate progress with the Doraville case, as well as Jersey’s determination to deal with international financial crime more generally.” </s> The sum of £211,000,000 (N81.9bn) has been seized from a Jersey bank account that belonged to a former Nigerian dictator, General Sani Abacha. Abacha was a Nigerian army officer and de facto president between 1993 until his death in 1998.

He laundered money through the US into the Channel Islands and now that money has been recovered.

The UK Metro is reporting that the money was put in accounts held in Jersey by Doraville Properties Corporation, a British Virgin Islands company.

The Newspaper said the money was now being held by the government until authorities in Jersey, the US and Nigeria come to an agreement on how it should be distributed.

Any money that Jersey does keep will be put into the Criminal Confiscation Fund, which is used to pay for a variety of projects. In the past, the fund had been used for the new police station and developments at La Moye Prison.

It would be recalled that in 2014, at the request of the U.S. authorities, the Island’s Attorney General applied for, and the Royal Court, granted a restraining order over the Jersey bank account balance of Doraville.

The purpose of the restraining order was to preserve the money until a final civil asset recovery order could be registered in the Royal Court.

Doraville applied to the Royal Court for the restraint order to be discharged, but the Royal Court dismissed the application in 2016.

Then in 2017, Doraville challenged the Royal Court’s decision, taking the case to Jersey’s Court of Appeal. That challenge was again rejected.

Finally, following the decision of Jersey’s Court of Appeal, Doraville made an application to appeal against the restraint order before the Privy Council – Jersey’s ultimate appellate court.

In February 2018 the Privy Council announced its rejection of this final legal challenge.

Last week, Solicitor General Mark Temple gave a presentation in Vienna, Austria, about Doraville at a UN conference on corruption.

He said: “The conference of the States Parties to the United Nations convention against corruption is an important international forum concerned with anti-corruption measures and asset returns.

“The conference was a good opportunity to demonstrate progress with the Doraville case, as well as Jersey’s determination to deal with international financial crime more generally.”

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the return of stolen money traced to the late army general must be worrisome to President Muhammadu Buhari.

The PDP recalled that the President had once defended the late head of state and proclaimed him a saint.

It said that because Buhari served in the government of the general whom millions of dollars had been traced to, the President had been defending him “when it was clear to all that the late general stole Nigeria dry.”

The National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, said there was nothing on ground to indicate that the looted funds would not be stolen again.

He said, “It is sad that we continue to hear about the return of stolen funds by the former head of state.

“Funny though, the President had described the former head of state as a saint, saying he never stole anything.

“The continued return of the stolen money must be a source of worry to the President and the Federal Government that the man they had proclaimed as a saint stole to that extent.

“I am, however, worried that there is nothing to indicate that the money will not disappear again.

“There is no monument on ground to tell us what repatriated cash was spent on. So, the recently announced stolen funds may also end same way.”

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) also said any literate Nigerian who still saw Buhari as a saint had only wasted his time in school.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Yemi Kolapo, wondered if a President, who defended a man who had stolen more funds than any living or dead Nigerian, could be rated high in integrity.

Kolapo said, “If the late dictator, Sani Abacha, whose stolen funds, worth several trillions of naira could run the Nigerian economy for three decades is the President’s hero, then his supporters must be enemies of Nigeria.

“What exactly is the President’s stand against corruption? All the talk about the fight against corruption under this administration is political abracadabra.” </s> General Sani Abacha was de facto president of Nigeria until 1998 (Picture: Rex Shutterstock)

Money to the value of £211,000,000 has been seized from a Jersey bank account that belonged to a former dictator.

General Sani Abacha was a Nigerian army officer and de facto president between 1993 until his death in 1998.

He laundered money through the US into the Channel Islands and now that money has been recovered.

The money was put in accounts held in Jersey by Doraville Properties Corporation, a British Virgin Islands company.

The money is now being held by the government until authorities in Jersey, the US and Nigeria come to an agreement on how it should be distributed.

Any money that Jersey does keep will be put into the Criminal Confiscation Fund, which is used to pay for a variety of projects. In the past the fund has been used for the new police station and developments at La Moye Prison.

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It is expected that even more money held by Doraville is likely to be seized and paid into the Civil Asset Recovery Fund in the future.

He stashed £211,000,000 into a bank account in the Channel Islands (Picture: Rex Shutterstock)

Attorney General Robert MacRae said: ‘In restraining the funds at the request of the United States of America, through whose banking system the funds were laundered prior to arriving here, and in achieving the payment of the bulk of the funds into the Civil Asset Recovery Fund, Jersey has once again demonstrated its commitment to tackling international financial crime and money laundering.’

In 2014, at the request of the US authorities, the Island’s Attorney General applied for, and the Royal Court granted, a restraining order over the Jersey bank account balance of Doraville.

The purpose of the restraining order was to preserve the money until a final civil asset recovery order could be registered in the Royal Court.

Doraville applied to the Royal Court for the restraint order to be discharged, but the Royal Court dismissed the application in 2016.

Then in 2017, Doraville challenged the Royal Court’s decision, taking the case to Jersey’s Court of Appeal. That challenge was again rejected.

Finally, following the decision of Jersey’s Court of Appeal, Doraville made an application to appeal against the restraint order before the Privy Council – Jersey’s ultimate appellate court.

In February 2018 the Privy Council announced its rejection of this final legal challenge.

Last week, Solicitor General Mark Temple gave a presentation in Vienna, Austria, about Doraville at a UN conference on corruption.

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He said: ‘The conference of the States Parties to the United Nations convention against corruption is an important international forum concerned with anti-corruption measures and asset returns.

‘The conference was a good opportunity to demonstrate progress with the Doraville case, as well as Jersey’s determination to deal with international financial crime more generally.’ </s> Image caption The late ruler is suspected to have embezzled about $2.2bn from Nigeria's central bank

More than $267m (£210m) belonging to a former Nigerian dictator has been seized from a Jersey bank account.

The money was "derived through corruption" during the presidency of Sani Abacha in the 1990s, according to Jersey's Civil Asset Recovery Fund.

A shell company called Doraville held the funds, which were frozen in 2014.

After a five-year legal wrangle, the money has now been recovered and will be split between Jersey, the United States and Nigeria.

Jersey's attorney general, Robert McRae QC, said the seizure "demonstrated [Jersey's] commitment to tackling international financial crime and money laundering".

Mr Abacha was in power from 1993 until his death in 1998.

It is not yet clear how much money will be kept by each government.

Jersey's Law Officers Department declined to comment on the final distribution of the funds because it could "prejudice ongoing discussions".

Image copyright JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK/AFP/GETTY Images Image caption Sani Abacha met with former Pope John Paul II in March 1998, shortly before his death

Jersey's government said it had approached the US in 2007 to request legal proceedings begin in US courts over the laundered funds.

The US Department of Justice itself has forfeited millions of dollars of money back to Nigeria, ruling Mr Abacha and associates laundered funds through the US banking industry.

Following an "extensive" collection of evidence in a variety of international jurisdictions, the funds were frozen by the Royal Court in 2014 and finally paid into the Civil Asset Recovery Fund on 31 May.

The money is just a fraction of the billions of dollars that were allegedly stolen and laundered during the presidency of Mr Abacha.

Swiss authorities last year returned $300m (£228m) to the Nigerian government, after it was found to have been stolen from public funds.

That money is being paid back to 300,000 Nigerian households over the next six years.

A spokesman for Jersey's Law Officers Department said it had faced "challenges and appeals" all the way to Jersey's highest court, as well as "separate proceedings" by a third party in US court. </s> The sum of £211,000,000 (N81.9bn) has been seized from a Jersey bank account that belonged to a former Nigerian dictator, General Sani Abacha.

Abacha was a Nigerian army officer and de facto president between 1993 until his death in 1998.

He laundered money through the US into the Channel Islands and now that money has been recovered.

The UK Metro is reporting that the money was put in accounts held in Jersey by Doraville Properties Corporation, a British Virgin Islands company.

The Newspaper said the money was now being held by the government until authorities in Jersey, the US and Nigeria come to an agreement on how it should be distributed.

Any money that Jersey does keep will be put into the Criminal Confiscation Fund, which is used to pay for a variety of projects.

In the past, the fund had been used for the new police station and developments at La Moye Prison.

It is expected that even more money held by Doraville is likely to be seized and paid into the Civil Asset Recovery Fund in the future.

In 2014, at the request of the US authorities, the Island’s Attorney General applied for, and the Royal Court granted, a restraining order over the Jersey bank account balance of Doraville.

The purpose of the restraining order was to preserve the money until a final civil asset recovery order could be registered in the Royal Court.

Doraville applied to the Royal Court for the restraint order to be discharged, but the Royal Court dismissed the application in 2016.

Then in 2017, Doraville challenged the Royal Court’s decision, taking the case to Jersey’s Court of Appeal.

That challenge was again rejected. Finally, following the decision of Jersey’s Court of Appeal, Doraville made an application to appeal against the restraint order before the Privy Council – Jersey’s ultimate appellate court.

In February 2018, the Privy Council announced its rejection of this final legal challenge. </s> The United Kingdom Government has seized £211,000,000, about N81.9billion, from a Jersey bank account that belonged to the late Nigerian dictator, Sani Abacha.

Mr Abacha died on June 8, 1998, after more than five years in office as Nigerian military head of state.

According to a report by UK Metro news medium, the money was put in accounts held in Jersey by Doraville Properties Corporation, a British Virgin Islands company.

The report further stated that the money is now being held by the government until authorities in Jersey, the US and Nigeria agree on how it should be distributed.

“Any money that Jersey does keep will be put into the Criminal Confiscation Fund, which is used to pay for a variety of projects. In the past, the fund has been used for the new police station and developments at La Moye Prison.

“It is expected that even more money held by Doraville is likely to be seized and paid into the Civil Asset Recovery Fund in the future,” the report said.

In 2014, at the request of the US authorities, the Island’s Attorney-General applied for, and the Royal Court granted, a restraining order over the Jersey bank account balance of Doraville.

“The purpose of the restraining order was to preserve the money until a final civil asset recovery order could be registered in the Royal Court. ”

Doraville applied to the Royal Court for the restraint order to be discharged, but the Royal Court dismissed the application in 2016.

Then in 2017, Doraville challenged the Royal Court’s decision, taking the case to Jersey’s Court of Appeal.

“That challenge was again rejected. Finally, following the decision of Jersey’s Court of Appeal, Doraville made an application to appeal against the restraint order before the Privy Council – Jersey’s ultimate appellate court.”

“In February 2018 the Privy Council announced its rejection of this final legal challenge. Last week, Solicitor General Mark Temple gave a presentation in Vienna, Austria, about Doraville at a UN conference on corruption.”

Mr Buhari on several occasions questioned the veracity of reports that Mr Abacha looted billions of dollars from the Nigerian treasury. </s> The United Kingdom Government has seized £211,000,000, from a Jersey bank account that belonged to the late Nigerian dictator, Sani Abacha, who died in June 1998 after serving as Nigeria’s military head of state for more than five years.

The UK Metro reported that the money had been placed in accounts in Jersey held by Doraville Properties Corporation, a British Virgin Islands company.

The money is now being held by the British government until its redistribution is agreed to by the Jersey authorities, the US and Nigeria.

“Any money that Jersey does keep will be put into the Criminal Confiscation Fund, which is used to pay for a variety of projects. In the past, the fund has been used for the new police station and developments at La Moye Prison,” said the UK Metro report.

“It is expected that even more money held by Doraville is likely to be seized and paid into the Civil Asset Recovery Fund in the future,” the report added.

American authorities in 2014 requested a restraining order on Doraville’s Jersey bank account, the purpose of which was to hold the money until a final civil asset recovery order could be registered.

However, Doraville applied for the restraint order to be discharged, but this was dismissed in 2016 so Doraville took the case to Jersey’s Court of Appeal in 2017 but this was again rejected.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has on several occasions questioned the veracity of reports that Abacha looted billions of dollars from the Nigerian treasury.

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A court in the Philippines orders the central bank to return US$15 million back to Bangladesh.