New FINCEN files published by
International Consortium of Journalists, America’s Buzzfeed I and Nigeria’s
Premium Times, have detailed how Atiku Abubakar, former Nigerian VP, triggered
international suspicions around him and his wives.
It all started with a $1,018,500
wire transfer on March 5, 2012 to Habib Bank Limited New York.
The transfer, according to Premium Times, which investigated the Atiku leg of the report, was flagged in
daily monitoring by the bank.
The transfer originated from
Guernsey Trust Company Nigeria Limited (GTCN) with the beneficiary being Tanjay
Real Estate Brokers, a company which held a Habib Bank Limited Dubai account.
It was the link with Atiku that
triggered a suspicious activity report through HBNLY’s transaction monitoring
system.
With Mr Atiku as the beneficial
owner, GTCN is a trust corporation incorporated in Nigeria in 2003, to hold his
16 per cent stake in Intels Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s oil and gas logistics
giant. This entity has been locked in a business battle with the Nigerian Ports
Authority in the past years.
In 1999, Atiku became Nigeria’s
Vice-president and, thus, created a blind trust to hold his asset in Intels. It
was the blind trust created in 1999 that GTCN was incorporated to manage in
2003, with Gabrielle Volpi. Akintola Kekere-Ekun, a banker, and Uyiekpen Osagie,
a lawyer, as its directors and trustees.
“An investigation (of the March
2012 wire transfer) identified GTCN as an alleged shell company that has been
used to transfer over USD 10 million via wire transfers through U.S. banks on
behalf of the former vice-president of Nigeria, Mr Atiku Abubakar,” HBLNY
reported.
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“HBLNY’s review of public sources
revealed that there have been numerous investigations of Mr Abubakar, as senior
Politically Exposed Person (PEP), linking him to corruption allegations,
possible Foreign Corrupt Practices Act foreign violations and money
laundering.”
In 2010, the US Senate Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations indicted GTCN alongside other companies linked
to Atiku and Mr Volpi.
The committee had investigated
how “foreign senior political figures, their relatives, and associates may be
circumventing or undermining anti-money laundering (AML) and PEP controls to
bring funds that may be the product of foreign corruption into the United
States.”
Of the $40 million identified in
the US Senate investigation regarding Atiku, $25 million was reportedly
wire-transferred into more than 30 U.S. bank accounts opened by Jennifer
Douglas, Atiku’s fourth wife.
The wire transfers were primarily
by GTCN, LetsGo Ltd. Inc., and Sima Holding Ltd. Both LetsGo and Sima are
offshore corporations registered in Panama and the British Virgin Islands,
respectively, and controlled by Mr Volpi, according to a letter to the Senate
committee by the businessman’s lawyer, Raymond Shepherd of the Washington-based
Venable firm.
The transactions identified in
the US Senate report were made while Atiku held office as Nigeria’s number two.
The March 5, 2012 suspicious
transaction reported by HBNYL was for the purchase of a flat in the “World
Trade Centre residences” in Dubai for Rukaiyatu Abubakar, a senior wife of
Atiku, through Tanjay, the transaction beneficiary.
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The following day, March 6, 2012,
as the SAR shows, Deutsche Bank New York raised a compliance question in an
information request to HBL Dubai regarding another wire transfer between GTCN
and Tanjay in the sum of $200,000 dated January 25, 2012. This was also
reported to be for a flat for Rukaiyatu Abubakar – and there was another CHF
741,000 transaction to which GTCN and Tanjay were also parties.
The flagged 2012 wire transfers
to Dubai triggered a further investigation, which revealed that GTCN had
channelled several other transactions since May 2005, while Atiku was still
Nigeria’s vice-president, to an account the company held with Habib Allied
International Bank London, (HAIB, London) from multiple accounts held in
Switzerland.
These transactions, also routed
through HBLNY, were for “personal expenses” of Amina Titi Abubakar, Mr
Abubakar’s first wife and Nigeria’s former second lady.
“Based on the negative
information associated with parties identified, HBLNY has added Atiku Abubakar
(the former vice president of Nigeria), Rukaiyatu Atiku Abubakar, Amina Atiku
Abubakar, Massimo Del Celo, Uyiekpen Gboyega Giwa-Osagie, Tanjay, and GTCN to
its internal automated real-time suspicious transaction monitoring for further
surveillance of potential suspicious activity and this SAR is being filed
against all parties listed,” the SAR said.
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Mr Osagie is facing trial in
Nigeria for a certain $2 million, which the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, reportedly suspects might have been budgeted for vote-buying during
the 2019 election, which Atiku contested and lost.
Years after Atiku was added to
HBLNY’s suspicious activity monitoring system, another SAR filed in 2017 and
showing 27 transactions totalling $11,140,357 involving Intels and channelled
through Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, DBTCA, were reported as
suspicious.
“Negative information was found
regarding the partial owner and co-founder of Intels Nigeria Limited, Atiku
Abubakar, having been the subject of investigations for allegations of fraud,
corruption, and money laundering between 2000 and 2008,” DBTCA reported on the
transactions originating from Intels. “This negative media was reported in
prior SARs, and no new negative media was discovered.”
The generation of a SAR does not
in itself constitute proof of any wrongdoing. However, the fact that SARs were
generated in respect of transactions connected to Atiku is revealing.
These transactions have given the
public rare insight into how the former Vice-President’s financial affairs are
conducted.
*Reported by Premium Times
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