The United States is returning $2.5 million to The Gambia from the sale of a US mansion bought with illicit funds by former leader Yahya Jammeh and his wife, the Justice Department said Friday.
The funds will be used to “compensate victims of the Jammeh regime,” the department said in a statement.
The mansion in the posh Washington suburb of Potomac, Maryland was purchased using “criminal proceeds and misappropriated Gambian public funds,” it said.
“This case is an important example of international cooperation to hold accountable those who use our financial system to attempt to hide illicit criminal proceeds,” Assistant Attorney General Tysen Duva said.
Election loss
Jammeh’s two decades in power from 1994 to 2017 were marked by rights abuses and the earmarking of state funds for the leader’s personal use, according to the current government and rights groups.
Jammeh now lives in Equatorial Guinea, after he was forced out under pressure from regional neighbors following his 2016 election loss to Adama Barrow.
Jammeh, his wife Zineb and their children have been banned from traveling to the United States since 2018.
