The General Sani Abacha loot is one of the most heinous heists in the history of Nigeria. Parts of it were recovered by the federal government, but one of the brains behind the loot, Abubakar Bagudu, former Kebbi State [now a ministerial nominee], cornered the government and diverted to the funds.
Now Bagudu is likely to head one of the country’s ministries following the screening of the nominees by the Godwin Akpabio-led National Assembly.
The former governor, according Pandora Papers, one of the biggest leaks of financial documents in the world, used phoney companies to siphon the Abacha loot.
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Bagudu who was a senator at the time, dispatched a delegation to Singapore in search of a new haven to shelter which is a target of the forfeiture proceedings by the United States Department of Justice.
The investigation led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, including more than 600 journalists, reported that huge funds, warehoused offshore, were part of billions of dollars Bagudu helped the Sani Abacha family to steal from Nigeria in the 1990s.
He had also been in the news over plans by the US to help Nigeria repatriate $308 million from the British Island of Jersey, according to TheCable. The funds are part of the billions of dollars traced to Abacha, the late military dictator who ruled Nigeria from November 1993 till his sudden death in June 1998, and his associates.
In 2010, Bagudu’s delegation – comprising his brother, Ibrahim Bagudu, and London lawyer, Ben Davies, from Byrne and Partners, now a part of PCB Byrne – met with Asiaciti’s officials, they registered his preference for a new structure of secrecy to oil the flow of his dirty wealth for the benefits of himself and his family, according to Pandora Papers.
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In 1997, Bagudu had structured offshore holdings Ridley Trust and Ridley Group in notorious tax and secrecy havens, Guernsey and the British Virgin Islands, positioning himself as the unseen but ultimate beneficiary. But in 2010, he wanted to terminate the Ridley structure and transfer his assets into another structure, hence the need for Asiaciti’s service in Singapore, the report added.
Not less than 99 million euros in cash and securities were then transferred from Ridley to a new structure enabled by Asiaciti, months after – which brushed aside red flags about Bagudu’s controversial background and source of his wealth.
According to American investigators, the initial funding of Bagudu’s Ridley’s account at Credit Agricole Indosuez, London, to the tune of 90 million U.S. dollars in 1998 was from the Par bonds and the debt-buy-back fraud.
However, responding to questions from investigators, Bagudu’s lawyer denied the allegations. “All monies held by the Blue Trusts are lawfully held,” citing a 2003 settlement between Bagudu and the Nigerian government under then-President Olusegun Obasanjo. But Bagudu did not respond to inquiries sent to him over the report.
Bagudu is one of the ministerial nominees screened alongside others by the red chamber last week.
Premium Times reported at the time Bagudu was helping Abacha steal Nigeria dry, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was financing some political and civil society actors demanding Abacha’s exit. This forced Tinubu into exile as feared the dictator wanted to kill or imprison him.
Bagudu was also instrumental in bringing Tinubu to power. He was a key player in Tinubu’s presidential campaign council for the 2023 elections.
