Launder Funds Stolen From Banks And Kwara State
SaharaReporters has received exclusive documents of a police investigation
revealing how Nigeria’s current Senate President, Bukola Saraki, made a series of
questionable deposits and illegal withdrawals from banks in order to launder stolen
funds through shell companies and an American Express credit card. The report
was authored by
a team of detectives at the Special Fraud Unit of the Nigerian
police headed by a Commissioner of Police.
The police investigation found that Mr. Saraki, during his tenure as Governor of
Kwara State, was the “prime promoter” of several shell companies, including
Skyview Properties Ltd., Limkers Ltd., Dicetrade Ltd., Carlisle Properties and
Investment Ltd., and the parent company known as Joy Petroleum.
Senator Saraki’s moneymaking scheme, according to the details of the Special
Fraud Unit’s investigation, was to withdraw millions of naira disguised as loans
from GTBank, Intercontinental Bank, Zenith Bank Plc. The funds were then moved
into different accounts, sometimes under the guise that the purpose was to pay
off some bank debts with other “loans.”
A part of the investigation discovered that Senator Saraki at various times
withdrew 11 billion naira from the Intercontinental Bank, 160 million naira from
Zenith Bank, and 204 million naira from GTBank. According to the report, “the
investigation also saw evidence of a 200 million naira loan facility that was
availed by Zenith Bank to Joy Petroleum Ltd.”
During an interrogation, Mr. Saraki admitted to owning all these companies with
the exception of Joy Petroleum. The owner of Joy Petroleum, the senator
claimed, was his former personal assistant, Mathew Obahor. He also added that
Mr. Obahor administered the other companies throughout his tenure as Governor
of Kwara State.
However, the investigators believed that Mr. Saraki lied to them about Obahor’s
role. They found out that Mr. Obahor was “sick and in a vegetative state and
could not have instructed the bank” to make financial transactions in the name of
Joy Petroleum or any of other companies.
As the special investigators reviewed Bukola Saraki’s statements they found that
Zenith Bank issued a loan in Saraki’s name on November 25, 2009 for N160 million.
When pressured, the bank provided two incriminating documents including “(1) an
internal [bank] ledger statement of account in the name of Dr. Bukola Saraki
showing a debit withdrawal of 160 million on 26/11/2009 and a credit deposit of
11,901369.98 on 26/05/2010. (2) A page of the bank’s Manager’s Cheque register
showing that a draft of 160 million [naira] in favor of Joy Petroleum Ltd was signed
for by one Uche Phillips.”
The investigation noted, “Bukola Saraki, who was purportedly granted a N160 million
loan with which a draft of N160 million was made in the name of Joy Petroleum
Ltd, was not a customer of Zenith Bank. He neither maintains a current nor saving
account with the Zenith Bank that claimed to have granted him the loan.”
The report also added that Bukola Saraki did not apply for that loan with a “formal
request as is best practice.”
The police also concluded that the “purported loan has remained unpaid and un-
serviced and there is no evidence that the bank has made any demand on Dr.
Bukola Saraki to repay the purported loan.”
The Special Fraud Unit extended its investigation into companies belonging to
Bukola Saraki, and discovered “evidence indicative of money laundering.” The
investigation found that “a series of cash lodgments were found in accounts of
the companies solely belonging to Dr. Bukola Saraki within the period he was the
Executive Governor of Kwara State. The investigation observes that the monies
were deposited in cash by personal aides of Dr. Bukola Saraki, especially one
Abdul Adama.”
The investigators found that the total sum of money laundered by Mr. Saraki was
more than two billion naira. They also remarked numerous sneaky tactics that
Saraki’s aides used to make secret deposits of laundered funds. According to
investigators, Abdul Adama “was responsible for making the cash deposits using
several fictitious names and GSM numbers of several unsuspecting members of the
public.” The police used the identical handwriting on the deposit slips to trace the
deposits to Mr. Adama.
The investigators also discovered that Bukola Saraki’s wife, Toyin Saraki, was
listed as the second Director and shareholder of Skyview Properties Ltd, but she
was unable to explain how the company generated revenue or the source of cash
deposits.
The police investigators also found, according to the report, that “a series of
cash lodgments was found in the personal accounts of Dr. Bukola Saraki during
the period he was Executive Governor of Kwara State.” Moreover, the report
concluded that the “pattern and frequencies of cash deposits into these personal
accounts of Dr. Bukola Saraki, are indicative of money laundering.”
The police report also asserted: “the [stolen] funds were mostly washed overseas
to fund Dr. Bukola Saraki’s American Express Card No. 374588216836009.” The
investigators concluded that Mr. Saraki’s personal account “also received an
inflow of about $4,560,871.27 between May 18th 2009 and May 5th 2011,
mostly cash lodgments and a couple NIFT Transfers.”
The Special Fraud Unit recommended that Bukola Saraki be prosecuted for
offenses related to money laundering, violation of foreign exchange laws, and
breaches of the Failed Banks (Recovery of Debts) and Financial Malpractices in
Banks Act.
The police investigators accused Mr. Saraki of using proceeds of corruption to
purchase properties abroad. In particular, the report revealed that Senator Saraki
bought several houses in the UK both in his name as well as that of his wife.
One of our sources in the Ministry of Justice stated that Nigeria’s immediate
past Attorney General, Bello Adoke, obstructed the prosecution of the current
Senate President. “Both the police investigators and some lawyers in the Ministry
[of Justice] recommended that Governor Bukola Saraki should face prosecution.
However, the AGF [Adoke] refused to give permission to prosecute Saraki based
on the weighty evidence provided by the Special Fraud Unit,” a source in the
ministry told our correspondent.
Instead of proceeding with the prosecution of Mr. Saraki, the Ministry of Justice
instructed the Special Fraud Unit to focus more of their attention on the role of
Zenith Bank in the shady financial transactions.
Mr. Adoke’s tenure as AGF saw the weakening of the ministry’s prosecution of
political powerful as well as high-level corporate elements in Nigeria. Mr. Saraki was
one of the notable beneficiaries of the Adoke era of “looking the other way instead
of tackling massive cases of graft and money laundering,” said one source.
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