10/12/2004
UN to help recover billions for Nigeria and Kenya
On the first anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the UN anti-crime office has said it will help two developing countries recover illegally exported money.
The UN estimates that in the 1990s some $11 billion was looted from the Nigerian and Kenyan governments by corrupt officials.
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), corrupt local officials stole $7.7 billion from oil-rich Nigeria, of which at least $2.2 was exported, and more than $3 billion from Kenya.
Corruption and the transfer of illicit funds have been a major factor in the flight of capital from Africa, with more than $400 billion having been stolen and hidden in foreign countries and around $100 billion of the total to have come from Nigeria alone, UNODC estimates.
At a press conference in the UN complex in Vienna, Austria, on the first International Anti-Corruption Day, marking the Convention's signing last year, UNODC chief Antonio Maria Costa said: "The recovery of stolen assets is one of the most promising and concrete aspects of the fight against corruption".
The Kenyan Ambassador Julius Kiplagat Kandie and Nigerian Ambassador Biodun Owoseni joined Mr Costa at the press conference.
To date, 114 countries have signed the Convention and 13 have ratified it.
It will enter into force when 30 countries have amended their laws according to its requirements.
UNODC offers technical assistance for upgrading national legal systems.
Prior to entering into force in the signatory countries the Convention allows UNODC to assist in the retrieval of monies plundered from their national treasuries.
The Convention binds UN Member States to criminalize corrupt practices, including money laundering, help one another determine money trails, seize and freeze illicit funds, deny safe haven to corrupt officials, and, as a "fundamental principle," return stolen funds to their rightful owners.
UNODC said it would assess the two countries' legal and institutional frameworks and recommend measures to facilitate the return of any recovered assets.
(SP/MB)
The UN estimates that in the 1990s some $11 billion was looted from the Nigerian and Kenyan governments by corrupt officials.
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), corrupt local officials stole $7.7 billion from oil-rich Nigeria, of which at least $2.2 was exported, and more than $3 billion from Kenya.
Corruption and the transfer of illicit funds have been a major factor in the flight of capital from Africa, with more than $400 billion having been stolen and hidden in foreign countries and around $100 billion of the total to have come from Nigeria alone, UNODC estimates.
At a press conference in the UN complex in Vienna, Austria, on the first International Anti-Corruption Day, marking the Convention's signing last year, UNODC chief Antonio Maria Costa said: "The recovery of stolen assets is one of the most promising and concrete aspects of the fight against corruption".
The Kenyan Ambassador Julius Kiplagat Kandie and Nigerian Ambassador Biodun Owoseni joined Mr Costa at the press conference.
To date, 114 countries have signed the Convention and 13 have ratified it.
It will enter into force when 30 countries have amended their laws according to its requirements.
UNODC offers technical assistance for upgrading national legal systems.
Prior to entering into force in the signatory countries the Convention allows UNODC to assist in the retrieval of monies plundered from their national treasuries.
The Convention binds UN Member States to criminalize corrupt practices, including money laundering, help one another determine money trails, seize and freeze illicit funds, deny safe haven to corrupt officials, and, as a "fundamental principle," return stolen funds to their rightful owners.
UNODC said it would assess the two countries' legal and institutional frameworks and recommend measures to facilitate the return of any recovered assets.
(SP/MB)
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