The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), an agency of the U.S. Department of Treasury, Tuesday placed the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the 2019 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his family members under close watch over alleged financial fraud.
Disclosing this Premium Times unravelled new findings by FinCEN which flagged some transactions linked to the senior politician as suspicious as it surveilled money movements within the international financial system.
Highlighting how Atiku transferred money from Nigeria to US, the Online medium said: “In 1999, Atiku became Nigeria’s vice-president and, thus, created a blind trust to hold his asset in Intels. It was the blind trust created in 1999 that GTCN was incorporated to manage in 2003, with Gabrielle Volpi. Akintola Kekere-Ekun, a banker, and Uyiekpen Osagie, a lawyer, as its directors and trustees.
“An investigation (of the March 2012 wire transfer) identified GTCN as an alleged shell company that has been used to transfer over USD 10 million via wire transfers through U.S. banks on behalf of the former vice-president of Nigeria, Mr Atiku Abubakar,” HBLNY reported.
“HBLNY’s review of public sources revealed that there have been numerous investigations of Mr Abubakar, as senior Politically Exposed Person (PEP), linking him to corruption allegations, possible Foreign Corrupt Practices Act foreign violations and money laundering.”
Moreso, in 2010, the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations indicted GTCN alongside other companies linked to Atiku and Mr Volpi. The committee had investigated how “foreign senior political figures, their relatives, and associates may be circumventing or undermining anti-money laundering (AML) and PEP controls to bring funds that may be the product of foreign corruption into the United States.”
Of the $40 million identified in the US Senate investigation regarding Atiku, $25 million was reportedly wire-transferred into more than 30 U.S. bank accounts opened by Jennifer Douglas, Atiku’s fourth wife. (Vanguard)
