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Money laundering latest: BRITAIN PROBES 11 NIGERIAN GOVERNORS
Emeka Madunagu and Sesan Olufowobi
British law enforcement agencies are investigating petitions detailing
alleged money laundering by 11 Nigerian governors.
Saturday Punch gathered that the agencies are acting on petitions received
from a London-based group, Nigerians Against Fraud and Corruption, and other
Nigerians on the said money laundering activities of the governors.
Among them are three governors in the South-West; four in the South-South
and four in the North.
This is against the backdrop of the arrest on September 2 of suspended
Plateau State governor, Chief Joshua Dariye and an unnamed woman, by a team
of British detectives at the Marriot Hotel, Central London.
The sum of £80,000 pounds was reportedly found on Dariye while another £2
million was said to have been traced to his accounts.
Dariye and his female companion were taken to the Central West End Police
Station but were later granted bail and advised to report at the station in
December.
NAF’s Convener, Dr. Deji Afolabi, told our correspondent on Wednesday in an
e-mail that his group had, in conjunction with other Nigerians, submitted
various petitions to the British security agencies, adding that these were
being investigated.
He also alleged that a prominent Caribbean broadcaster “who has got close
links with a governor from the Middle Belt is the major front for northern
governors.”
Afolabi also said that an unnamed Nigerian businessman, who runs a security
company in London, is another link in Britain in the money laundering
activities of major officials of some agencies of the Nigerian government.
When our correspondent asked for the names of the governors, the anti-graft
campaigner said that he was constrained by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
(Section 436) from revealing their identities or giving Saturday Punch
copies of the petitions.
He debunked insinuations by Dariye’s associates that they were being
sponsored by unnamed interests to truncate his return to power as “cheap
blackmail” which “are not unexpected.”
Afolabi stated that his group might invoke Britain’s Freedom of Information
Act to probe the accounts of some ministers in the administration of
President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He also told Saturday Punch that “the next stage of our campaign will be to
write foreign financial institutions not to grant any loan or request for
debt forgiveness to the Nigerian government.”
Our correspondent contacted various British security agencies, including the
Serious Fraud Office, Customs and Excise, Metropolitan Police as well as the
Home Office.
A press officer at the Serious Fraud Office in London, Mr. David Jones, who
spoke with our correspondent on telephone, requested that specific questions
be sent by e-mail.
In his response, Jones confirmed that his agency is indeed investigating
some petitions on alleged money laundering but pleaded that he would not be
able to discuss them.
His words: “If it is the case that a complaint or an allegation has been
made to us about the issue you outline, we regard such information as
confidential and sensitive. We are not free to discuss it. If the
complainant wishes to publicise the fact that suspicions have been referred
to an investigation authority, that is his/her decision. We would need to
first establish what the complainant is saying publicly before we could
comment on the subject of your email.”
Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Britain, Dr. Christopher Kolade, had alluded
to the stashing of public funds in foreign banks by government officials in
a lecture delivered at the Friends of St. Marylebone Annual Lecture 2004 in
London on May 12.
In his speech titled “A Greeting Card from Nigeria,” Kolade tied the
reluctance of Nigeria’s creditors to heed her pleas for debt relief to their
disgust at the mindless looting of the treasury.
“I suspect – and I know you agree with me – that one of the reasons that
debt relief is so hard to obtain is the shameful way in which some of our
people have looted public funds in Nigeria and stashed them away in banks
and estate businesses in foreign countries. I suppose our creditors reason
that if such huge sums are available for stealing, there must be some money
left over from which we can pay our debts!” Kolade said.
The high commissioner also said it would be “appropriate to insist that the
countries that have become receivers of stolen funds should make it easier
for the rightful owners to recover such funds for proper investment at
home.”
Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has vowed to follow
the Dariye case to a conclusive end.
EFCC’s director of Information, Mr. Shariff Ujudud, told our correspondent
in a telephone conversation on Thursday that the commission’s lawyers were
still working to establish the legal status of the suspended governor before
making any move. “And if we found out that his immunity still stands, then
we will wait for him till the year 2007 after he must have finished his
tenure and then make our move. Nobody should be above the law,” he stated.
On the 11 governors, Ujudud said the commission was yet to receive any
official petition to that effect from any group.
He assured that once the commission obtained adequate information, such as
the names of the governors, their account numbers and the names of the
banks, the commission would swing into action. “There is nothing much that
EFCC can do now until we have solid information that we can work on,” he
said.
He, however, expressed optimism that the British police would liase with the
commission.
“We have a high level of cooperation with them. If they have anything useful
for us, I am sure they will pass it along. Then we can move against the
governors. If not now, then after their tenure in 2007,” he said.
Saturday Punch, September11, 2004
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