Abacha loot: World Bank seeks more time to give details

The World Bank has again asked for more time to release details on the spending of recovered loot by the late General Sani Abacha.

This followed the bank’s decision to refer a “portion of appeal by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to the Bank Archives Unit for processing for public access.”

In a letter dated 8 August 2016 and sent to SERAP, the World Bank said, “In response to your request under AI4288, we would like to inform you that we are working on your request as referred to the Archives by the Access to Information Committee in its decision on the appeal and need additional time to provide a more comprehensive response. We regret any inconvenience for this delay.”

This development was disclosed on Tuesday in a statement by SERAP executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni.

The World Bank’s request for more time followed the appeal SERAP lodged with the Bank on February 5 2016, on the ground that the Bank’s decision on its initial request did not reveal “important portions of the information requested on how Abacha loot was spent.”

This is the second time the World Bank is asking for additional time to provide SERAP with details of spending of Abacha loot.