Nigeria regains more Abacha cash

Nigeria's finance minister has thanked Switzerland for its help

Nigeria says it has recovered $458m (£257m) found in Swiss bank accounts linked to the country's late military ruler Sani Abacha.

Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz and senior Swiss officials broke the news on Tuesday.

So far, $290m has been returned and the remainder is set to follow.

Mr Abacha was in power from 1993 to 1998 and is thought to have embezzled billions of dollars.

"We appreciate the willingness of the Swiss government to act on this issue," said Mrs Okanjo-Iweala.

"It is just a first step. We are committed to ensuring that all the funds stolen from Nigeria are returned."

Slow process

Once the payments are made, Switzerland will have returned all the money linked to Mr Abacha that has been found in its banks.

Following Mr Abacha's death in 1998, Nigeria started trying to claw back money that had been deposited outside the country.

Nigeria says it is still searching for funds he may have sent to other countries, but has not named them.

As well as Switzerland, money has been found in the UK, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Austria.

But it has not been a quick process. Although Swiss authorities froze the funds in 1999, they refused to return them until they were given guarantees about how the money would be used.