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A UK-based businessman has been convicted in Switzerland of laundering tens of millions of dollars in bribes for General Sani Abacha, the late Nigerian dictator, who plundered an estimated $5 billion during his five years in charge of the country, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
The bribes were paid by several international companies, including Errostaal of Germany and India's Tata as part of Abacha's 'system of systematic corruption, according to the Swiss sentencing order, a copy of which FT claims to have obtained.
The judgement found subsidiaries of Tata, India's largest conglomerate, paid about $40 million into the account, which the judgement found to be bribes.
The company has won contracts to export vehicles to Nigeria for the army and other government agencies. But a Tata spokesman said its records contained no references to the two entities cited, and the company had made no such payments.
In Mumbai, a Tata spokesman declined to comment saying they had not seen the judgement. The judgement could have been against a company with which Tata deals in selling trucks in Nigeria.
"The judgment of Israeli-born British businessman Uri David by Daniel Zappelli, attorney-general of the Canton of Geneva, also raises the possibility that UBS, the Swiss bank that held the funds, knew the account was being used by the Abacha family, an allegation the bank strongly denies," FT said.
"About $86 million from the account, opened on the instruction of Mr David, has been returned to Nigeria. Mr David was found guilty of aggravated professional money laundering, forgery and support of a criminal organization," reported FT.
"The 78-year-old businessman and his company, Glenyork, made contributions to the Labour Party totalling at least £15,000 between 1997 and 1999, according to Labour party accounts," the FT reported.
Additional inputs : PTI