Abacha is suspected of looting huge sums

The decision came after lawyers failed to challenge a Home Office decision to help Nigerian and Swiss officials recover money said to have been traced to London.

The Press Association said the lawyers were acting for Mohammed Abacha, the dictator's son, and Abubakar Bagudu, Abacha's London-based partner.

Nigeria is trying to recover more than $3bn allegedly embezzled during General Abacha's rule which ended with his death in 1998.

Britain was asked last year to help recover the money.

Account freeze

Six months ago, Britain's financial watchdog, the Financial Services Authority, revealed that 23 London banks had handled $1.3bn belonging to family and friends of General Abacha.

Earlier this month, judicial authorities in Britain reportedly ordered some of the world's largest banks to freeze accounts believed to belong to the dictator.

Banks reportedly named

Deutsche Bank Commerzbank BNP Paribas Credit Agricole Credit Suisse UBS HSBC Barclays NatWest Goldman Sachs Merrill Lynch Citibank

A court order seen by the Financial Times newspaper named a list of banks in the City of London in connection with the money.

A leader article in The Guardian newspaper of London criticised banks in London for dragging their feet in comparison to counterparts in Europe.

The article said that institutions in Europe had not only "named and shamed" banks, but had actively tried to expose General Abacha's criminal dealings.

Financial regulators around the world are now bolstering anti-money-laundering measures - cutting off the supplies to the groups believed to be behind the 11 September attacks in the United States.

The Abacha government is seen by many as the worst period in Nigeria's history, a time of crude military dictatorship and flagrant human rights abuses, the price of which was international condemnation and isolation.