Authorities in Seychelles have opened a criminal investigation into the multi-million dollar
assets which Senate President Bukola Saraki and his wife, Toyin, are believed
to hold through offshore shell companies in tax havens, PREMIUM TIMES can
report.
Bukola and Toyin Saraki are
being targeted by financial intelligence operatives for their “suspicious” use
of offshore shell companies as uncovered in the Panama Papers investigation
published in 2016, according to new records obtained by the International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists and shared with PREMIUM TIMES and other partners.
Investigators at the Seychelles
Financial Intelligence Unit said they are interested in determining whether or
not Mrs Saraki stood as a front for her husband in the ownership of some of the
offshore holdings linked to the family when a trove of offshore assets managed
by Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, was leaked to the media.
The investigators are also
working to determine if the transactions undertaken with the shell companies
were used to launder funds or carry out other suspicious activities.
Two weeks after the
Sarakis were exposed as owning undeclared offshore assets in violation of
Nigeria’s code of conduct regulations, detectives from that
country’s FIU asked Mossack Fonseca to furnish them with all documents relating
to Sandon Developments Ltd, a firm registered in Seychelles under Toyin
Saraki’s name.
Mossack Fonseca responded to
the request on April 29, 2019, by forwarding a link to the PREMIUM TIMES
article on the Panama Papers as well as all documents relating to
Sandon Ltd, including international passports and business activities.
The status of the
investigation, however remained unclear as there is no record of any update
about it since Mossack Fonseca responded to the authorities’ requests at the
end of April 2016.
Mrs Saraki registered Sandon
Ltd in 2011 and used it to buy a family property at #8 Whittaker Street,
Belgravia, London SW1W 8JQ.
Mr Saraki denied links to the
offshore assets in 2016, saying they belonged to his wife’s family. But
information obtained by PREMIUM TIMES at the time indicated that the Senate
President merely used his wife as a front, and Seychelles authorities also
found the denial unconvincing.
The revelations were amongst
the findings of a lengthy investigation by the International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and more than
100 other global news organizations – including PREMIUM TIMES.
PREMIUM TIMES was the only
Nigerian publication involved in the investigation, which lasted a year before
the first set of stories started running on April 3.
For two weeks, Yusuph
Olaniyonu, a spokesperson for Mr Saraki, did not return PREMIUM TIMES requests
for comments about the criminal investigation of his principal and spouse in
Seychelles.
Nigerian authorities had
previously stated that they were investigating Mr Saraki’s offshore assets that
were not declared in contravention of the law, but no charges have
been brought against him.
Offshore shell entities are not
necessarily fraudulent. There are legitimate uses for them by businesspersons
across the world, but several other people, including criminals, have used them
for untoward activities.
When Mrs Saraki registered
Sandon Ltd on January 12, 2011 in Seychelles, she listed Babatunde Morakinyo, a
long-term personal aide and friend of Mr Saraki, as a shareholder.
Mr Morakinyo was amongst the
top aides of Mr Saraki who were identified by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as laundering billions of naira in
suspected bribes from the Paris Club refund to Nigerian states in 2017.
While incorporating that Sandon
Ltd, documents show, Mrs Saraki bought a curious service from Mossack Fonseca,
the Panamanian firm under which she tucked the hidden assets.
PREMIUM TIMES further reported
at the time that Sarakis used nominee directors in order to perhaps avoid being
identified as the beneficial owner of Sandon. Nominee directors are sometimes
used in tax havens to conceal real owners of companies and assets.
She then made an undertaking
indemnifying the Panamanian company “in respect of all claims, demands,
actions, suits, proceedings, costs and expenses whatsoever as may be incurred
or become payable by you in respect of or arising out of any member or employee
or associate of your company or associated companies holding any office,
directorship or shareholdings in the company or by reason of or in consequence of
any act or decision made by any such person or company in connection with the
management and/or administration of the said company.
Shortly after the company was
incorporated, Mrs. Saraki used it, in July 2011, to buy the property on
Whuttaker Street, Belgravia, London SW1W 8JQ.
The property, acquired from
Renocon Property Limited, a company registered in the British Virgin Island,
was never disclosed to Nigerian authorities as required by the
country’s code of conductlaw.
The revelations came at the time
Mr Saraki was being tried by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for
failing to properly declare his local assets when he became governor in 2003,
2007 and when he moved to the Senate in 2011, having completed the two terms
allowed under the Constitution.
In June
2017, the CCT found Mr. Saraki not guilty on all the 18 counts of
false assets filings as brought against him by the Nigerian government.
The Nigerian government challenged the ruling at the Court of
Appeal, which affirmed the conclusion of the tribunal on all but three
counts in aDecember 12 ruling. Mr Saraki appealed the decision to the
Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is scheduled to deliver its judgment in the
appeal on July 6.
PT
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