The Civil Society Legislative and Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has called on African governments to, through their anti-graft and law enforcement agencies, return stolen assets to their original owners when recovered.
THESTORIES reports CISLAC’s executive director, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani as giving the charge while speaking at the Global South Forum for Asset Recovery in Nairobi, Kenya.
Rafsanjani, also the head of Transparency International (TI) Nigeria, decried situations where original owners of stolen assets are marginalized by governments across the continent, when such assets are recovered.
“A case in point is that between the Nigerian government and Delta state as well as the mismanaged COVID-19 funds in Kenya, which are good examples.
“If not properly checked, the assets risk being re-looted by officials who don’t mean well for their country whereas it is important for citizens of states to benefit from asset stolen away from them by corrupt rulers,” Rafsanjani said.
He also charged African countries to come up with legal frameworks for the management of recovered assets, a situation he said, that “would encourage countries outside the African continent where the assets are located to send them back to Africa.”
Rafsanjani also charged law enforcement and anti-graft agencies in Nigeria to adhere strictly to the recently passed Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act, 2022 when it comes to seizures, confiscation and management of recovered assets.
According to him, while the new law does not solve the issue of proper coordination, the provision for anti-graft agencies to operate a database of recovered information where citizens can know the status of seized assets, is commendable.
He lauded Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly (NASS) for the legislation which was long overdue.
He also noted that recovered assets shouldn’t be used for bogus projects, but rather projects that will benefit the citizens.
The CISLAC boss also called for more cooperation between state and non state actors in asset tracing, repatriation and disposal.
The forum had representatives drawn from civil society organizations in Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Angola, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United State, France, Germany, representatives from the African Union secretariat, GIZ, amongst others.
