A New Jersey court in the United States has ruled that assets worth around $8.9 million stolen by government officials in Nigeria around 2014, can be returned to Nigeria.

Following the service of a forfeiture notice in November, the Court concluded that funds deposited in a Jersey bank account were likely “misappropriated by officials” in the Nigerian Government in 2014.

Negotiations for the return of these assets will now take place with the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

According to the Jersey government, the transfer of money was reportedly disguised as government-sanctioned contracts for arms purchases during the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, between 2009 and 2015.