Ahead of Nigeria’s 2019 general elections, perennial presidential hopeful, Atiku Abubakar, mounted anintense campaign to untangle his candidacy from a public perception that he iscorrupt. This is what his opponents have always latched on to. But in 2019, he
decided to confront thequestion of corruption head-on.“I have always said that if they have any evidence of corruption againstAtiku, please come forward,” Atiku told a packed audience in Ado Ekiti, southwestern Nigeria. “Butnobody has been able to come forward.”
As Atiku made media and public appearances daring detractors to provideevidence against him, American authorities were also busy poring throughrecords to determine if the former vice president had engaged in any recentfinancial transaction that could be considered questionable or suspicious.
As a Politically Exposed Person (PEP), the Financial Crimes EnforcementNetwork (FinCEN), an agency of the U.S. Department of Treasury, had placedAtiku and his family members under close watch.
New findings have now shown that FinCEN flagged some transactions linked tothe senior politician as suspicious as it surveilled money movements within theinternational financial system.
These findings also offer fresh insight into how huge funds linked to Atikumay have been moved across international jurisdictions using shell companies.
FinCEN files, a new investigation by the International Consortium ofInvestigative Journalists, BuzzFeed and 108 media partners across the world,including PREMIUM TIMES, are a large volume of confidential financial reportsrelating to the transaction activities of world leaders, terrorists, drugdealers and money launderers.
The investigation involved 16-month collaborative work involving more than400 journalists, including those from PREMIUM TIMES, in 88 countries.
The files included a large number of suspicious-activity reports, SARs,filed by banks and other financial institutions to the US Government asrequired by the Bank Secrecy Act., with the total amount in suspicioustransactions reported being $2 trillion ($2,099584,477,415.49).
The SARS flagged subjects, including organisations and individuals, in morethan 170 countries, and were obtained and shared by BuzzFeed.
In one such report, a $1,018,500 wire transfer on March 5, 2012, was flaggedin daily monitoring by Habib Bank Limited New York, HBLNY.
The transfer originated from Guernsey Trust Company Nigeria Limited (GTCN)with the beneficiary being Tanjay Real Estate Brokers, a company which held aHabib Bank Limited Dubai account. Itwas the link with Atiku that triggered a suspicious activity alert throughHBNLY’s transaction monitoring system.
With Mr Atiku as the beneficial owner, GTCN is a trust corporationincorporated in Nigeria in 2003, to hold his 16 per cent stake in IntelsNigeria Limited, Nigeria’s oil and gas logistics giant. This entity has beenlocked in a business battle with the Nigerian Ports Authority in the pastyears.
In 1999, Atiku became Nigeria’s Vice-president and, thus, created a blindtrust to hold his asset in Intels. It was the blind trust created in 1999 thatGTCN was incorporated to manage in 2003, with Gabrielle Volpi. AkintolaKekere-Ekun, a banker, and Uyiekpen Osagie, a lawyer, as its directors andtrustees.
“An investigation (of the March 2012 wire transfer) identified GTCN as analleged shell company that has been used to transfer over USD 10 million viawire transfers through U.S. banks on behalf of the former vice-president ofNigeria, Mr Atiku Abubakar,” HBLNY reported.
“HBLNY’s review of public sources revealed that there have been numerousinvestigations of Mr Abubakar, as senior Politically Exposed Person (PEP),linking him to corruption allegations, possible Foreign Corrupt Practices Actforeign violations and money laundering.”
In 2010, the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations indicted GTCN alongsideother companies linked to Atiku and Mr Volpi. The committee had investigatedhow “foreign senior political figures, their relatives, and associates may becircumventing or undermining anti-money laundering (AML) and PEP controls tobring funds that may be the product of foreign corruption into the UnitedStates.”
Of the $40 million identified in the US Senate investigation regardingAtiku, $25 million was reportedly wire-transferred into more than 30 U.S. bankaccounts opened by Jennifer Douglas, Atiku’s fourth wife.
The wire transfers were primarily by GTCN, LetsGo Ltd. Inc., and SimaHolding Ltd. Both LetsGo and Sima are offshore corporations registered inPanama and the British Virgin Islands, respectively, and controlled by MrVolpi, according to a letter to the Senate committee by the businessman’slawyer, Raymond Shepherd of the Washington-based Venable firm.
The transactions identified in the US Senate report were made while Atikuheld office as Nigeria’s number two.
The March 5, 2012 suspicious transaction reported by HBNYL was for thepurchase of a flat in the “World Trade Centre residences” in Dubai forRukaiyatu Abubakar, a senior wife of Atiku, through Tanjay, the transactionbeneficiary.
The following day, March 6, 2012, as the SAR shows, Deutsche Bank New Yorkraised a compliance question in an information request to HBL Dubai regardinganother wire transfer between GTCN and Tanjay in the sum of $200,000 datedJanuary 25, 2012. This was also reported to be for a flat for RukaiyatuAbubakar – and there was another CHF 741,000 transaction to which GTCN andTanjay were also parties.
The flagged 2012 wire transfers to Dubai triggered a further investigation,which revealed that GTCN had channelled several other transactions since May2005, while Atiku was still Nigeria’s vice-president, to an account the companyheld with Habib Allied International Bank London, (HAIB, London) from multipleaccounts 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 secondlady.
“Based on the negative information associated with parties identified, HBLNYhas added Atiku Abubakar (the former vice president of Nigeria), RukaiyatuAtiku Abubakar, Amina Atiku Abubakar, Massimo Del Celo, Uyiekpen GboyegaGiwa-Osagie, Tanjay, and GTCN to its internal automated real-time suspicioustransaction monitoring for further surveillance of potential suspiciousactivity and this SAR is being filed against all parties listed,” the SAR said.
Mr Osagie is facing trial in Nigeria for a certain $2 million, which theEconomic and Financial Crimes Commission, reportedly suspects might have been budgeted for vote-buyingduring the 2019 election, which Atiku contested and lost.
Years after Atiku was added to HBLNY’s suspicious activity monitoringsystem, another SAR filed in 2017 and showing 27 transactions totalling$11,140,357 involving Intels and channelled through Deutsche Bank Trust CompanyAmericas, DBTCA, were reported as suspicious.
“Negative information was found regarding the partial owner and co-founder ofIntels Nigeria Limited, Atiku Abubakar, having been the subject ofinvestigations for allegations of fraud, corruption, and money laundering between2000 and 2008,” DBTCA reported on the transactions originating from Intels.“This negative media was reported in prior SARs, and no new negative media wasdiscovered.”
The generation of a SAR does not in itself constitute proof of anywrongdoing. However, the fact that SARs were generated in respect oftransactions connected to Atiku is revealing. These transactions have given thepublic rare insight into how the former Vice-President’s financial affairs areconducted.
Paul Ibe, a spokesperson for Atiku, who was contacted by telephone and email
by reporters from ICIJ and PREMIUM TIMES, declined to comment for this report.