Sani Abacha ran Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998, and he treated the Central Bank like a personal ATM with remarkably good credit. Transparency International put the theft at up to $5 billion; more recent estimates climb to $6–9 billion. The methodology was elegant in its simplicity: Abacha and his National Security Adviser Ismaila Gwarzo fabricated over 60 'national security emergencies' between 1994 and 1998 to drain funds directly from the Central Bank. The rest went into private accounts across Switzerland, the UK, Jersey, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, and the United States — because one tax haven is never enough when you're thorough.

The recovery effort has been a decades-long diplomatic relay race. Switzerland returned $500 million in 2006 — the first time European banks returned looted money to an African country, a milestone so overdue it deserved its own apology. Further tranches followed: $311 million confirmed received by Nigeria, $23 million from the US, $9.5 million from Jersey. The Abacha family, displaying remarkable nerve, went to court to block repatriation. Nigeria's anti-corruption agency estimates $400 billion has left the country to private pockets since 1960. Abacha was simply the most efficient practitioner of a well-established national sport.