draining development.pdf - Khazar University

434 Draining Development?Kingdom. The property and rental income from the property were forfeitedin July 2006 by the High Court of South Africa in civil forfeitureproceedings on the application of the national director of public prosecutionsacting through the Asset Forfeiture Unit. Nigeria successfullyintervened in the proceedings seeking an order for the return of the proceedsof sale.ConclusionAlamieyeseigha is a good example of coordinated international assetrecovery. The case involved the full set of criminal and civil asset recoverymechanisms: criminal proceedings in Nigeria and the United Kingdom,including criminal restraining orders over assets; requests formutual legal assistance between these jurisdictions and others; criminalconfiscation of assets in Nigeria, civil forfeiture of cash in theUnited Kingdom; private civil proceedings in the United Kingdom,including a worldwide freezing injunction; enforcement of the civiljudgment in Cyprus and Denmark; and civil forfeiture proceedings inSouth Africa.There were a number of factors leading to success in the Alamieyeseighaproceedings, as follows:• Thorough investigations into the corrupt activities of Alamieyeseighain Nigeria by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission andby the Metropolitan Police in the United Kingdom• Effective and quick execution of requests for mutual legal assistance,including the use of a criminal restraint order to secure assets• Close cooperation between the Nigerian and U.K. authorities and, asfar as was permissible, between the U.K. authorities and civil lawyersin Nigeria• The availability of the documents gathered by law enforcement agenciesfor civil proceedings• A package of civil and criminal efforts to recover assets• Relentless pressure in the civil proceedings to force Alamieyeseighaproperly to explain his defense, in particular, the alleged legitimatesource of his wealth, coupled with the court’s willingness to enterjudgment following repeated failures to comply with orders for disclosureof information and documents