4th July, 2012
The corruption trial of the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha’s son was adjourned on Wednesday until next week because of his absence due to what his lawyers said was a car crash.
It is the second trial in Switzerland of Abba Abacha, who is accused of pillaging his country’s funds while his father was in power.
A spokesman for the Geneva court said the case was adjourned to July 11.
Defence lawyers had requested the delay at the start of Wednesday’s proceedings, saying he had been involved in a car crash in Nigeria and was unable to travel to Switzerland.
Christian Luscher said the accident last Thursday left his client with whiplash and head injuries.
Abacha was absent from his first trial in 2010 after failing to obtain a visa from the Swiss authorities and his conviction was annulled by the country’s highest court.
He is accused of belonging to a criminal organisation that raided Nigeria’s public funds from 1994 to 1998. He denies the charges.
Abacha’s father, who died in 1998, is estimated to have siphoned off $2 billion (1.6 billion euros) from his country, of which $700 million has been returned to Nigeria from Swiss bank accounts.
Another $400 million is believed to be in Luxembourg, lawyers for the Nigerian government said.
At his original trial, Abba Abacha received a two-year suspended sentence and the court ordered the confiscation of $350 million from accounts in Luxembourg and the Bahamas.
But the verdict was annulled by Switzerland’s highest court after it found that Abacha’s rights had been violated since he had been tried in his absence.