A massive cache of documents obtained exclusively by Huhuonline has exposed the hidden financial dealings and offshore holdings of Kebbi Governor,
Abubakar Atiku Bagudu and reveals how under the military regime of General Sani Abacha; Atiku Bagudu, former finance minister, Anthony Ani, former National Security Adviser (NSA), Ismaila Gwarzo, then CBN governor, Paul Ogwuma, and other corrupt officials conspired with Gen. Abacha and his son, Mohammed Sani Abacha to embezzle, misappropriate, defraud, and steal billions of dollars from the Nigerian government using criminal schemes; and then secretly shuffle and laundered the money through a network of shadow companies, offshore banks and investment portfolios in tax havens from the British Virgin Islands to the Bailiwick of Jersey.
Nigerians might be aware that Bagudu was a close associate of Gen. Abacha; what they did not know was that Bagudu was the kingpin of Abacha’s money-laundering activities. His finger prints are everywhere that Abacha laundered money; and to think that the same Atiku Bagudu is now the elected governor of Kebbi State is beyond disbelief. The scale and magnitude of the theft Bagudu perpetrated against the Nigerian people is within the realm of crimes against humanity; and the God-questioning incontinence that he not only moves around as a free man, but still holds public office, is a screaming barometer reading of the APC promise of change and President Buhari’s fight against corruption.
The story of Atiku Bagudu is, in many ways, the story of Abacha’s money-laundering itself. The leaked documents offer more than a snapshot of one man’s business methods or a catalog of his more unsavory activities. It allows a far-reaching view into how so much was stolen by so few and the way Bagudu has worked to keep his nefarious activities hidden – offering clues as to why efforts to recover a substantial part of the Abacha loot have faltered.
As the gasoline that ran Abacha’s money-laundering engine, Bagudu, created anonymous companies in the British Virgin Islands and other financial havens. His offshore network system relied on a sprawling global industry of bankers, and investment portfolio managers and go-betweens who worked together to protect his stolen wealth. Gov. Bagudu used anonymous companies, investment trusts and other paper entities to create complex structures to disguise the origins of Abacha’s dirty money. The files expose foreign bank accounts and offshore investment companies controlled by Bagudu and his family members, including his wives and children and his brother.
The cache of documents covers Abacha’s reign of terror, from 1993 and allows a never-before-seen view inside the money-laundering exploits of Governor Atiku Bagudu; providing a detail look at how Bagudu channeled Abacha’s dark money through the global financial system, robbing the CBN and stripping the Nigerian treasury of revenues; denying the people potable water; making it difficult to pay teachers; denying Nigerian hospitals the funds to purchase badly needed drugs and therefore causing the death of many Nigerians. And in no small measure, Atiku Bagudu contributed to the general debilitation and immiserating of Nigeria as a nation.
The documents make it clear that Atiku Bagudu was the main driver behind the creation of hard-to-trace companies in the British Virgin Islands, and other offshore havens used to launder money stolen by General Abacha and his family. The files list 12 banks and 16 paper companies and five investment portfolios that Bagudu set up for the Abacha family to keep their loot under wraps, including:
v Assets held in account number 80020796, in the name of Doraville Properties located at Deutsche Bank International Ltd in the Bailiwick of Jersey, last valued at approx. $287 million
v Assets held in account number S-104460 in the name of Mohammed Sani, at HSBC Fund Administration Ltd in the Bailiwick of Jersey, last valued at approx. $12 million
v Assets held in account number 223405880IUSD, in the name of Rayville International, SA at Banque SBA in Paris, France, last valued at approx. $1 million
v Assets held in account number 223406510PUSD, in the name of Standard Alliance Financial Services Ltd at Banque SBA in Paris, France, last valued at approx. $144 million
v Assets held in account numbers 100130688 and 100138409, in the name of Mecosta Securities, at Standard Bank, UK, last valued at approx. £21.7 million
v Assets held at HSBC Life (Europe) formerly held in account number 37060762 in the name of Mohammed Sani at Midland Life International Ltd, and assets in account number 38175076, at HSBC Bank last valued at approx. $1.6 million
v Combined assets held in the name of Blue Holding Pte. Ltd., on behalf of Ridley Group Ltd and the Ridley Trust, at JO Hambro Investment Management Ltd, UK and James Hambro & Partners LLP, UK last valued at approx. €95,910,222.84 million.
The documents which included evidence from the World Bank Stolen Asset Recovery (STAR) initiative also provide details of how Atiku Bagudu; more than Mohammed Abacha and even Gen Abacha himself, concocted fraudulent schemes to steal Nigeria blind. Among other things, Atiku Bagudu played an instrumental role in setting up and executing the complicated financial transactions used to launder the stolen billions and remains a signatory and corporate representative designated on many of the assets owned by the Abacha family.
The records reveal a pattern of covert maneuvers by Bagudu, using banks and offshore companies linked to his network to move money in secret transactions, disguised payments, backdated documents and hidden ownership within the inner circle of Abacha’s dictatorial regime. The documents listed five offshore corporate entities in the notorious tax haven of British Virgin Islands created by Bagudu to launder Abacha’s stolen billions. These are: Doraville Properties Corporation, Mecosta Securities Inc., Rayville International SA; Ridley Group Ltd, and Standard Alliance Financial Services Ltd.
Although some $700 million of the Abacha loot has been returned to the Nigerian government as part of a plea bargain that got Mohammed Abacha off the hook, it is estimated that over $2.1 billion of stolen wealth and assets remained under the control of Bagudu and Mohammed Abacha. Of this amount, about $458 million in cash and assets have been seized and forfeited by the United States, as proceeds of corruption and money-laundering. It is hoped that President Buhari will pressure the Americans to revert the impounded cash and assets to the Nigerian government, pursuant to the 1989 treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between the US and Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should open investigations into the insidious role played by Gov. Atiku Bagudu in corruption and money-laundering under Abacha. For a man whose entire electoral fortunes were anchored on his integrity and character, including his promise to win the war against corruption, President Buhari and not least the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation should take more than a cursory interest in these revelations about the Kebbi governor. To allow this travesty to stand is to say that there is no real penalty for corruption, which remains Nigeria’s number one problem because of its wide negative implications on the citizens. To underscore the extent of the damage, Nigeria now ranks amongst the most corrupt nations in the world. If nothing else, this requires that every man, institution or agency of good conscience should device ingenuous ways to combat corruption, rather than treat it lightly. Regrettably, the EFCC has failed to rise to its billings in this regard, easily capitulating on flimsy excuses, and paving the way for the escape of criminals from justice. This could be a direct invitation to anarchy. Allowing a man who stole billions to hold public office and walk the streets freely cannot serve as deterrent to other corrupt and criminally minded persons. It is time for Buhari to walk the talk; Nigerians are watching and waiting.
Atiku Bagudu: Inside the money-laundering triangle
According to the cache of documents obtained by Huhuonline, Abacha, Bagudu and others defrauded the Nigerian people using three principal fraudulent schemes – security vote fraud; debt buy-back fraud and outright extortion and kickbacks from public contracts. The security votes fraud began in January 1994, shortly after Abacha seized power. At Abacha’s direction, the NSA, Ismaila Gwarzo, prepared fake security votes letters and addressed them to General Abacha purporting to request millions of US dollars, British pounds, and Nigerian naira to address unidentified emergencies that threatened Nigeria’s national interests. Abacha then endorsed each letter with his signature and the fake letters were sent to CBN governor, Paul Ogwuma, for disbursement.
In one of the letters dated June 2, 1994, Gwarzo falsely stated: “In view of the on-going negative campaign against this country, small international operation has been mounted to cover it… approve as a matter of urgency, the sum of five million dollars…” In another letter, dated November 30, 1994, Gwarzo claimed: “million dollars are requested to combat an economy that was deflected and distorted through the black market.” In yet another one-page letter dated August 20, 1996, Gwarzo made the fallacious claim that: “In light of the current political situation in the country, coupled with the increase in security operations… is need for a lot of funds to handle the challenges outlined above such that I require three hundred and fifty million naira (N350, 000,000) plus thirty million dollars ($30,000,000) and fifteen million pounds (£15,000,000)… Consider desperate need and approve.”
After the funds were disbursed from the CBN, bank staff would deliver the cash to NSA Gwarzo at his residence. Gwarzo would then deliver the cash to Mohammed Abacha, who in turn, gave it to Bagudu, who arranged for the money to be transferred to accounts controlled by Bagudu and Mohammed Abacha in foreign countries. In order to move the money overseas, Bagudu deposited the cash into two Nigerian commercial banks, Union Bank and Inland Bank, claiming the money was his “cash swaps.”
To transfer the money overseas, the funds were transferred from Union Bank and Inland Bank back to the CBN, to accounts held by Union Bank and Inland Bank at the CBN. The CBN then transferred the funds from the accounts of the two commercial banks to their respective overseas domiciliary accounts held at banks in London or New York, controlled by Mohammed Abacha and Bagudu. Union Bank and Inland Bank were then instructed to transfer the stolen funds to other accounts under Bagudu or Mohammed Abacha’s control, such as accounts in the name of Mecosta, Rayville, Eagle Alliance and Standard Alliance accounts at Banque SBA, ANZ (London), and at Standard Bank.
Bagudu: the money-laundering kingpin
On October 10, 1995, Bagudu ordered the wire transfer of $5 million from an account at Union Bank Nigeria into and out of a correspondent account at Barclays Bank New York, into a correspondent account at ANZ (New York), for credit to the Eagle Alliance account at ANZ (London).
On November 5, 1995, Bagudu caused the wire transfer of $6 million from a domiciliary account of Union Bank Nigeria into and out of a correspondent account at Barclays Bank New York, and then into and out of a correspondent account at ANZ (New York), for credit to the Eagle Alliance account at ANZ (London). This $6 million was credited to the Eagle Alliance account.
On January 3, 1996, Bagudu caused the wire transfer of approximately $320,000 from Inland Bank of Nigeria into and out of a correspondent account at Morgan Guaranty Trust Bank, New York, and then into and out of a correspondent account at ANZ (New York), for credit to the Eagle Alliance account at ANZ (London).
Between August and November at least $7.2m was deposited by Bagudu into the Eagle Alliance account at ANZ (London) on behalf of Alhaji Ahmadu Daura, the Abacha family lawyer. These funds included monies withdrawn from the CBN in the form of cash and traveler’s checks. The monies were first deposited into accounts controlled by Alhaji Ahmadu Daura at London Trust Bank in Nigeria and then wired to the Eagle Alliance account at ANZ (London).
An additional $20m was wire transferred from Inland Bank Nigeria domiciliary account at Commerzbank AG in London, into and out of Credit Lyonnais, New York, for deposit into account number 223405880I held in the name of Rayville at Banque SBA in Paris. Daura was an Abacha associate who owned and operated the Sunshine Bureau de Change. He facilitated the transfer of the stolen monies out of Nigeria to accounts he controlled in England and then transferred the criminal proceeds into accounts controlled by the Abacha family.
On July 17, 1997, another $10 million from the security vote fraud was wire transferred from Inland Bank Nigeria domiciliary account at Commerzbank AG in London into and out of Credit Lyonnais, New York, for deposit into an account in the name of Harbour Engineering located at Banque SBA in Paris, whose designated signatory was Bagudu.
Between November 1997 and January 1998, $59 million from the security votes fraud were transferred into an account held in the name of Mecosta at Standard Bank in London. To erase evidence of the connection to Bagudu and Abacha, the $59 million was first transferred from Inland Bank Nigeria to the CBN; the CBN then credited the funds to an Inland Bank Nigeria domiciliary account at Citibank New York; Citibank New York transferred the money into a correspondent account at Barclays Bank, New York; and Barclays transferred the money into Mecosta’s account at Standard Bank controlled by Bagudu and Mohammed Abacha.
In the space of 24 hours the money had, on paper, traversed three continents, five banks and two companies, making the money all but untraceable in the process. There were plenty of reasons why Bagudu wanted the transaction disguised, not least of all because the money trail came uncomfortably close to Gen. Abacha. Over 60 fake security votes letters were sent to CBN governor, Paul Ogwuma, who complied with the request, even though it violated statutory laws and CBN procedures; as the disbursements were neither approved by the Minister of Finance nor by the Accountant-General, and were also not included in the budget for the relevant fiscal years.
The fake security letters came fast and furious: February 15, 1995 ($4m and £2m); July 8, 1995 ($5m, £2m and another £2m in travelers’ checks); Dec 29, 1995 ($5m); March 28, 1996 – Abacha requested $5m and £3m. CBN ran out of foreign currencies and paid only $3.801m; May 29, 1996 ($5m and £5m. CBN ran out of pound sterling and sent $12.5m); June 20, 1996 ($10m and £5m); Aug 20, 1996 ($30m and £15m); Sept 24, 1996 ($50m); Sept 30, 1996 ($50m and £3m); Oct 14, 1996 ($5m); Nov 11, 1996 ($5m and £3m); Feb 18, 1997 ($6m); Feb 28, 1997 ($3m); March 3, 1997 ($3.27m); March 6, 1997 ($1.21m); April 22, 1997 ($60m); April 28, 1997 ($60m and £30m); June 30, 1997 ($4.9m); July 9, 1997 ($5m and £2m); Aug 8, 1997 ($10m); Oct 18, 1997 ($12.3m); Oct 21, 1997 (£5.88m); Oct 23, 1997 (£14.76m); Oct 29, 1997 (£11.76m); Nov 14, 1997 ($10m); Nov 26, 1997 ($24m); Dec 10, 1997 ($24m) and Dec 18, 1997 (£6.15m).
The breakdown of the money stolen on each trip made to the CBN on his behalf as shown above would suggest that corruption, more than blood, ran through Abacha and Bagudu’s veins. The former NSA, Ismaila Gwarzo told the Special Investigation Panel, SIP, that he sent his special assistant to the bank between June 1996 and October 1997 to collect a total sum of $456 million and £232 million for Abacha in cash. The panel found that General Abacha and his coconspirators had used the false security vote letters to steal and defraud more than $2 billion in public funds, including: at least $1.1 billion and £413 million pounds sterling (GBP) in cash; and at least $50,456,450 and £3,500,000 GBP in traveler’s checks; and $386,290,169 through wire transfers.
Atiku Bagudu & the Million-Dollar Ajaokuta Steel Scam
After decades of deadlock, the federal government on Monday took a major step to revitalize the steel sector as it signed a renegotiated concession agreement with Global Steel Holdings Ltd (GSHL) for the Nigerian Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO), Itakpe. By the new agreement, Ajaokuta Steel Complex has now reverted to the government, effectively freeing the entity from all contractual encumbrances that had left it uncompleted and non-functional for decades, while GSHL retains NIOMCO. The new agreement, which followed four years of mediation, was signed at a ceremony presided by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo. Solid Minerals Development Minister, Kayode Fayemi, signed on behalf of the government, while Chairman of GSHL, Prammod Mittal signed on behalf of the company.
But beyond the euphoria and high expectations about industrial growth and massive job opportunities, few would imagine that the Nigerian people have once again been shortchanged. For after all is said and done, the Ajaokuta steel saga is a tragedy of immense proportion that the nation has endured for many years. The fact that President Buhari decided to sweep the past of the Ajaokuta steel saga under the carpet is a dreadful mistake. That past is connected to one of the most wicked acts ever perpetrated against this nation by Kebbi Governor, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu – the debt-buy-back fraud.
The confidential files obtained exclusively by Huhuonline, disclose previously unknown dealings between Bagudu and the offshore companies that used funds provided by the Nigerian government, to buy and then resell Nigeria’s debt from the failed Ajaokuta steel company. Nigeria lost over $350 million to Bagudu and his cohorts in the scam, which has been described as the crime of the century against the Nigerian people. This is the story.
The Nigerian Steel Development Authority was created in 1971 to serve as a catalyst for the development of the country’s steel and iron ore deposits. In 1979, it entered into an agreement with Tiajpromexport (TPE), a Russian company, to construct a steel plant in Nigeria for five billion Deutsch Marks (DM); and the entity known as the Ajaokuta Steel Company was born. According to the cache of documents obtained exclusively by Huhuonline, the Nigerian government agreed to give TPE debt instruments guaranteeing payment of2 billion DM to finance part of the construction. Amid allegations of bribery, kickbacks and over-inflation of the contract, Mohammed Buhari, who overthrew the Shehu Shagari government in 1983, suspended payment on the debt after TPE refused to renegotiate the contract. TPE, in turn, stopped work on the steel plant, and Nigeria defaulted on the outstanding debt.
In 1996, after 13 years, TPE decided to cut its losses, and sell the debt in the open market, for a fraction of its worth. Bagudu learned from his bankers at ANZ (London), about TPE’s interest in selling the 1.6 billion DM debt for just 350 million DM. He then approached Muhammed Abacha, who sold the deal to his father. Gen. Abacha directed then Finance Minister Chief Anthony Ani to sign an agreement with Bagudu, providing assurances that the government of Nigeria would buy back the debt from Bagudu if one of his companies, (in this case Mecosta) purchased the debt from TPE. Bagudu then orchestrated a series of transactions through which Mecosta received money in escrow from Nigeria, used that money to purchase the debt through a Liberian brokerage company, identified in the documents as Parnar Shipping Corporation (Parnar), and then sold the debt back to Nigeria for almost three times the cost.
According to the leaked files, on September 30, 1996, Bagudu arranged for TPE to sell DM 1.6 billion of its Nigerian debt instruments to Parnar for 350 million DM. That same day, Parnar resold the same debt to Bagudu’s company, Mecosta, for 486 million DM. Mecosta immediately marked up the price again and sold it back to Nigeria for 972 million DM, which the Nigerian government paid in two installments of 486 million DM. The records show that the CBN, at the instructions of Chief Anthony Ani transferred 486 million DM to an escrow account held in the name of Parnar and Mecosta at ANZ (London), 481 million DM of which was then used by Mecosta to pay Parnar for the debt.
The records also show that on April 15, 1997, Ani ordered CBN to wire the balance 486 million DM in two tranches of $141,253,333 (243 million DM) each, into and out of a correspondent account at
Citibank (New York) to Goldman Sachs in Zurich, Switzerland, for credit to the Mecosta account, but the funds were diverted and instead deposited into accounts held in the names of Eagle Alliance and Morgan Procurement. The second transfer in the same amount came a week later on April 22, 1997.
The noose begins to tighten
The shady transactions raised a red flag leading officials at Goldman Sachs to informed Bagudu and Mohammed Abacha that the bank was ending their relationship over concerns about the source of the money in the accounts held by Eagle Alliance and Morgan Procurement. As a result, Bagudu transferred $202.3 million in cash and securities from the Eagle Alliance accounts at Goldman Sachs in Zurich to a Mecosta account at Banque Baring Brothers, in Geneva, and moved another $90 million in cash and securities from the Morgan Procurement accounts to a Mecosta account at Credit Agricole Indosuez in London. However, after officials at Banque Baring Brothers discovered that Bagudu had falsely claimed the money deposited came from the oil and gas industry, the bank terminated its relationship with Mecosta over false representations made by Bagudu.
Bagudu then approached DBIL bank in the Bailiwick of Jersey and presented fake documents showing the Mecosta funds as the proceeds of oil, construction, and energy trading, when in fact the funds were the proceeds of theft and corruption. DBIL officials approved the request to open an account in the name of Mecosta. But when the account was opened on April 3, 1998, bank documents show Bagudu changed the name on the account from Mecosta to another one of his offshore companies; Doraville Properties Corporation, and then transferred $137.1 million in proceeds of the debt buy-back scam from the Mecosta account at Banque Baring Brothers into the new Doraville account.
Overall, the Nigerian people lost 622 million DM ($354,024,071) from the deal after the government paid 972 million DM for the TPE debt, whose selling price on the open market was 350 million DM; nearly two-thirds less than Nigeria ultimately paid for the debt. Only in Nigeria can such a monstrous theft of public funds occur and the perpetrators are free, and hold authority positions from where to continue the pillage. Buhari’s war against corruption will stand or fall on how he handles Bagudu.
After General Abacha’s sudden and unexpected death, Muhammed Abacha used the Doraville account as part of his plea bargain, transferring $115 million in the account to the government of Nigeria, leaving only $1,000 balance. This $1,000 was later comingled with funds from the purchase and sale of Nigerian Par Bonds which was the other fraud Bagudu perpetrated against the Nigerian people. That story is next.