Switzerland will return to Nigeria about $380 million linked to the former military leader, late General Sani Abacha.
The money was confiscated in 2014 after it was transferred to the country from Luxembourg where it had been seized since 2006, Geneva prosecutors said.
This followed an agreement between the Nigerian Government and the family of the late dictator.
The money was confiscated on the ground that the Abacha family was a criminal organisation, according to the Swiss authorities.
The process of returning the loot to Nigeria will be supervised by the World Bank.
With the return, Geneva prosecutors have closed their case with the Abacha family which was opened in 1999. Abba Abacha was the last member of the family under investigation.
The decision to return the funds followed a July 2014 deal between Nigeria and the Abacha family. Under the agreement, the funds would be confiscated and returned to Nigeria, while the Federal Government would drop its case against the deceased dictator’s son, Abba Abacha.
Geneva prosecutors’ office said in a statement that the $380 million had been placed in several accounts abroad that were controlled by the Abacha family, which is considered a criminal organisation. The money was seized in 2006 in Luxembourg, under orders from the Swiss authorities.
The Abacha family had also placed some $500 million in Swiss banks, though those funds had already been returned to Nigeria.
In 2012, Abba Abacha was handed a one-year suspended prison sentence for participating in a criminal organisation. Switzerland’s top court cancelled the sentence in May 2014, citing procedural reasons.
The Geneva prosecutor’s office on Tuesday said Abba Abacha had already been detained for 561 days from 2004 to 2006, without receiving compensation.
The Abacha affair began in 1999 when Nigeria asked the Swiss judicial authorities to help it recover $2.2 billion.
It will be recalled that Switzerland has returned to Nigeria more than $700 million that late Abacha hid in Swiss accounts.