President Buhari on Tuesday this week ordered the Nigerian Embassy in the United Arab Emirates to investigate, document, and submit the list of all Nigerian public officials with assets in the UAE.The president gave them a deadline of March 31, 2016 for the completion of the compilation following the agreement signed between President Muhammadu Buhari and the United Arab Emirate on repatriation of stolen funds and extradition of culpable officials.
The Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal and Commercial Matters, which will allow the UAE government return monies hidden or invested in banks and real estates in the country, was among a series of other bilateral agreements signed by the President’s delegation, which was in the country for the World Energy Forum.
Other agreements signed with the government of that country included: Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement, Agreement on Trade Promotion and Protection, Judicial Agreements on Extradition, Transfer of Sentenced Persons.
The three agreements the president signed includes,the Judicial Agreement on Extradition, Transfer of Sentenced Persons and Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal and Commercial Matters,are particularly giving those who may have hidden their ill-gotten wealth in the country a lot of worries.
According to multiple security sources, as the news of the signing of the agreements broke,some ex-officials started making frantic efforts to either escape from that country or relocate their slush funds out of the reach of the government.
The UAE has become a Mecca for Nigeria’s wealthy who are drawn by the expensive high rise properties, glitzy malls and ritzy hotels in the oil-rich country.
A security source who has been investigating the pattern of Nigeria’s investment in the country says that at least $200 billion allegedly stolen from the country’s treasury by former government officials is believed to have been stashed in banks and invested in properties in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, two of UAE’s most prominent cities.
With the signing of the agreements the government can now actively demand the repatriation of funds hidden in the country by convicted former officials as well as demand the extradition of other Nigerian fugitives residing in the country.
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