$2 BILLION ABACHA LOOT: Exposed: How Gov Bagudu, Sen Umaru, Others Opened 16 Accounts For Stolen Fund

More revelations have emerged from court documents on the ignoble roles played by Nigerian politicians to facilitate the $2 billion looted funds by the late erstwhile Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, The Authority Newspaper reports.

The court documents revealed the roles played in the scandal by the incumbent Kebbi State Governor, Alhaji Abuba­kar Atiku Bagudu and the Sen­ator representing Niger East Zone, David Umaru.

The documents accessed by The AUTHORITY showed how the actors opened 16 bank ac­counts in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France and the Bailiwick of Jersey and laundered over $2 bil­lion stolen during the regime.

Investigations revealed that before the US government sought and obtained a forfei­ture order on the money, it had send a crack team of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), which combed the globe and tracked down where the illicit money was kept.

The AUTHORITY discovered that $287 million was depos­ited into an account: 80020796 in the name of Doravile Properties Corporation at Deutshe Bank In­ternational Limited in Bailiwick of Jersey.

Another sum of $12 million was deposited into account num­ber S-104460 owned by Moham­med Sani (full names, Moham­med Sani Abacha) at the BSBC Fund Administration (Jersey) Limited in the Bailwick of Jer­sey. This was as $1 million was deposited into account number 2234058801 in the name of Ray­ville International, SA at Banque SBA in Paris, France.

Similarly, $144 million was paid into account number 223406510PUSD in the name of Standard Alliance Financial Ser­vices Limited located at Banque SBA in Paris, France while 21.7 million Pounds Sterling was paid into account number 100130688 and 10138409 in the name of Mecosta Securities at Standard Bank in the United Kingdom.

There was also $1.6 million in account number 38175076 in the name of Mohammed Sani (Abacha) at HSBC Bank Plc, just as he also deposited yet-to-be ascertained amount of money into account number 37060762 at Midland Life International Limited.

Again, the actors used the name of Blue Holding (1) Pte Ltd, traceable to Blue Holding (2) Pte Ltd on behalf of Rid­ley Group Limited and or Rid­ley Trust at J. O. Hambro Invest­ment Management Limited in the United Kingdom to depos­it 6,806,900 Euros, just as it paid in 21,846,983 Euros in the name of Ridley Group Limited and or Ridley Trust at J. O. Hambro In­vestment Management Limited in the United Kingdom and an additional 10,293,343.58 Euros in the name of Blue Holding (1) Pte Ltd traceable to Ridley Trust at James Hambro & Partners LLP in the UK.

Equally stunning was the payment of 56,962,996.26 Euros in the name of Blue Holding (2) Pte Ltd traceable to Ridley Group Limited and or Ridley Trust, at James Hambro & Partners LLP in the UK.

More revelations from the court documents have further proved that the group laundered mind-boggling amounts of mon­ey into bank accounts of all the earlier mentioned offshore com­panies in bank accounts in the British Virgin Island.

In the course of investiga­tions by the FBI and other US se­curity agencies, the court docu­ment showed that Governor Bagudu “played an instrumental role in setting up and executing the complicated financial trans­actions used to launder the pro­ceeds of the conspiracy.”

The court also affirmed that “he is also a signatory and/or corporate representative desig­nated on many of the Abacha’s assets”.

On his part, the court af­firmed that Alhaji Ahmadu Daura “was an associate of the Abacha family and operated Sunshine Bureau de Change, a mon­ey exchange business located in Nigeria. He participated in the conspiracy by moving criminal proceeds out of Nigeria to accounts he controlled in England by transferring criminal proceeds into and out of the United States to bank accounts controlled by the Abacha family”.

The judgement showed that Senator David Umaru “was an attorney and associate of the Aba­cha family and participated in the conspiracy by communicating General Abacha’s extortion demands to third parties wishing to do business in Nigeria, including as described to the owners of Dumez Group, a French-based construction company.”

Curiously, it was after the fraudulent practices relating to the Ajaokuta Steel Company and associated phoney debt buy-back that Dumez closed shop and left Nigeria.

Former Finance Minister, Chief Anthony Ani, was not left out of the tangle of conspiracy and looting as the US court stat­ed that while he held sway, “he authorised the disbursement of Nigerian government funds in furtherance of the Security Votes Fraud and the Debt Buy-Back Fraud.”

The AUTHORITY had on Tuesday exclusively reported that a team of US-based Nigeri­an lawyers: Messrs Jude Chuk­wuma Ezeala, Kenneth Nna­ka, Godson Nnaka and Charles Lion Agwumezie, are still en­gaged in a legal battle in the Dis­trict of Columbia Courts in the US with the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Alhaji Abubakar Malami, for the pay­ment of approximately $220 mil­lion legal fees.

The report listed the US-based banks involved in the fraud as ANZ Banking Group, New York; Bankers Trust Com­pany, New York; Barclays Bank, New York; Citibank NA, New York; Chase Manhattan Bank, New York; Chemical Bank, New York; Commerzbank AG, New York; Marine Midland Bank, New York (now HSBC USA, NA, and Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, New York (now JP Morgan Chase).