Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 8 June (HL408), why they are transferring funds to the US Department of Justice given that the United Nations Convention states that returns should be made to the victim country.

• The NCA’s recent recovery of $23,439,724.98 from the associates and family of former Nigerian Head of State, General Sani Abacha, was carried out following a request from the US Department of Justice (USDOJ).

• Acting on a request from the USDOJ, the NCA pursued nearly seven years of protracted litigation and international negotiation to obtain the recovery order, to enforce the US forfeiture order relating to the recovered monies.

• As such the funds have now been transferred to the Home Office for onward transmission to the USDOJ. The ultimate intention is for the $23.5m to be repatriated for the benefit of the Nigerian people.