Four governments returned more than $780 million of General Sani Abacha's money to Nigeria

A November 1998 report by the next military government said about $1.4 billion in cash had been moved out through national security adviser Ismaila Gwarzo and Mohammed Sada. Abacha's eldest son, Mohammed, was arrested in 1999 and freed in September 2002 after agreeing to return $1 billion. In 2004 the New York Times reported a Swiss finding that Abacha "looted nearly $500 million." On 17 January 2014 Nigeria's Supreme Court ruled that Mohammed could stand trial on a 123-count charge. The court said Decree No. 53 of 1999 forfeited the assets outright and left the family no claim. In August 2014 the US Department of Justice forfeited $480 million, its largest kleptocracy forfeiture to that date. In 2019 more than $267 million was forfeited from Jersey accounts, including one held by Doraville Properties Corporation, a British Virgin Islands company. On 4 February 2020 the US, Jersey and Nigeria signed an agreement to return more than $300 million for road building. Companies linked to the family went to court to block that return. The family has never admitted or denied that the money was stolen. In September 2026 Mohammed Abacha was reported as a candidate for Kano governor in 2027^†.