Nigerian leaders own up to 800 houses in Dubai and London with a combined value of $400m

NIGERIAN leaders and politically exposed persons (PEP) have been found to own as many as 800 choice properties in Dubai and London with a combined value of $400m according to a recent report by Associate Fellow of Chatham House Matthew Page.

At a recent event in Abuja, Professor  Bolaji Owasanonye, the chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), revealed that Mr Page's claims were contained in a paper titled IFFs through the Real Estate and Education Sectors: Implications for Investigators.  He then urged ICPC investigators to pay attention to real estate and education sectors-linked illicit financial flows.

He noted that illicit financial flows (IFF) provided opportunities for PEPs in Nigeria to launder money through real estate and education sectors. Professor Owasanoye disclosed that 2,000 corporate entities were uncovered to be engaged in questionable activities including tax evasion by investigations undertaken by the commission and their details were forwarded on to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Firs).

Professor Owasanoye said: “Most of the properties held by Nigerian politicians in London and Dubai are held by proxies, family and shell companies. Over 800 properties worth over $400 million have been linked to Nigerian PEPs.

“Some of these entities are not registered and do not pay tax while others are registered but still do not pay tax. The ICPC has been able to recover significant amount in taxes for the government.”

In addition, the ICPC chairman stated his agency's capacity building programme would help investigators to track illicit financial flows, money laundering and other areas the government is losing revenue and recover such funds. He stressed the need to widen the revenue base, improve tax collection, combat tax evasion and illicit financial flows as well as asset recovery to improve the country’s finances.

“The loss of revenue is a major challenge to developing countries, particularly Nigeria. The meeting is therefore designed to build the capacity of our investigators to enable them to trace the areas in which the government is losing money, look for the likely places people hide money, stop the illicit financial flows, and recover the funds.

“We are already working with the Firs and getting a lot of tax evaders and defaulters into the nation’s tax net. One of the takeaways from here is the kind of question an investigator needs to ask in tracking IFFs and money laundering,” Professor Owasanoye explained.

Dr Adeyemi Dipeolu, the chairman of Inter-Agency Committee on Stopping IFFs from Nigeria, said his body was working assiduously to curb the menace.