By Gbenga Abulude ( Politics and General Desk)
A leaked document from U.S Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN) has revealed details of how former Nigeria’s Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, elicited global suspicions on himself and his business interests.
The FINCEN files which exposed alleged shady deals by prominent business people and politicians around world contain over 2,500 documents and more than 2,000 reports of suspicious activities, and perceived inappropriate movement of funds, among others.
Buzzfeed News alongside the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published details on how Atiku allegedly wired $1,018,500 on March 5, 2012 to Habib Bank Limited New York (HBLNY).
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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.
GTCN is a trust corporation incorporated in Nigeria in 2003, to hold Atiku’s 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(NPA) in the past few years.
Fast forwarded to 2020, the link between Atiku’s GTCN and Tanjay Real Estate Brokers among other co-conspirators has triggered a suspicious activity internationally as revealed through the bank’s transaction monitoring system.
Impeccable reports reveal that Atiku created a blind trust to hold his asset in INTELS in 1999 following his emergence as Vice President. The GTCN was incorporated to manage the blind trust in 2003, with Gabrielle Volpi, Akintola Kekere-Ekun, a banker and Uyiekpen Osagie, a lawyer as directors and trustees, respectively.
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“An investigation (of the wired money transfer in March 2012) 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,” the New York based Habib Bank revealed.
“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 Sub-committee on Investigations reportedly 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 Politically Exposed Person (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 said to be 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.
Recall that Atiku, in the past had been severally linked with alleged inappropriate business deals, and to persons reportedly indicted of soliciting bribes, wired fraud and corrupt charges.
The former Vice President’s name was repeatedly mentioned in an international bribery scandal along with William Jefferson and one of Atiku’s wives, Jennifer Atiku Abubakar. This was very much a subject matter which dominated the run-up to the 2019 presidential election Atiku lost to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari. However, Atiku had consistently denied any involvement in the Jefferson scandal.
This follows money laundering allegations levelled against Atiku by the U.S. government while he was at the helm of affairs as Vice President between 1999 and 2007. But in the past, Atiku has denied the allegations, as well as alleged breach of transparency, ethical principles, accountability and corporate governance protocols while he was in government.
