Multi-billion Naira Mansions of 2 Ex-Governors, Others EXPOSED In London

One of the Mansions
Source: TheCable

Ahead President Muhammadu Buhari visit to London, a UK  Newspaper has exposed secret London mansions allegedly belong to some corrupt Nigerians billionaires 

Presi­dent Muhammadu Bu­hari will tomorrow visit London to­morrow to honour invitation by the British Prime Minister David Cameron, to participate in a global anti-corrup­tion summit holding at Lancaster House.

The Mail on Sunday named former Gover­nor of Kogi State, the late Prince Abubakar Audu and Chairman and Chief executive Officer of Global Fleet Group, Ji­moh Ibrahim as owners of mansions on Bishops Avenue in Hampstead – known as “billionaires’ row” while former Gov­ernor of Bayelsa State, the late Diepreye Alami­eyeseigha, was named as owner of a mansion in West Hampstead. It was not clear if the proper­ties were products of corruption and money laundering.

One of the Mansions
Source: TheCable

But the report listed Nigeria as one of the countries worst affected by corruption. Mean­while, the Executive Sec­retary of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption, Profes­sor Bolaji Owasanoye, while commenting on the global anti-corrup­tion summit, said Brit­ain had been a bolthole for numerous corrupt Nigerians, including for­mer provincial governor James Ibori, jailed for 12 years in 2012 at South­wark Crown Court for money-laundering.

He spoke with Mail on Sunday at the weekend ahead of the summit. “It’s great Mr Cameron is taking this seriously. But Britain isn’t doing as much as it should, in terms of ending the secrecy and making its banks more account­able,” Owasanoye said.

Critics say the British government is not doing much in the fight against embezzlement of public funds and money laun­dering even as it hosts a global anti-corruption summit. Cameron has been accused of failing to order Britain’s tax-ha­ven colonies to open up books.

According to the re­port, almost one in ten properties in Kensing­ton, companies regis­tered in such ‘secrecy jurisdictions’ own seven per cent in Westminster and five per cent in the City. It added that more than three-quarters of the owners of such prop­erty use offshore secrecy to hide their identities.

One of the Mansions
Source: TheCable

The ‘preferred option for concealment’ were British Crown Depen­dencies and Overseas Territories, such as the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Gibraltar and the Caymans, the report added. The Mail on Sun­day said it has learned that representatives of dependencies such as the BVI will not attend the summit, while Cam­eron has ‘no plans’ to force them to make com­panies registered there obey the same transpar­ency rules as firms regis­tered in Britain.

In Britain, properties bought with dirty money often sit empty for long periods. “Those living nearby have no idea who their neighbours are, undermining any sense of community. Most im­portantly, those prop­erties are taken off the market, further squeez­ing housing supply,” the report said. A report last year by the global anti-corruption group Trans­parency International, based on data supplied by Scotland Yard, re­vealed that real estate worth more than £180 million has been subject to criminal investigation since 2004.

Yet this represents just one per cent of the proceeds of corruption invested in the UK prop­erty market, making the true total £18 billion. It added that more than three-quarters of the owners of such property use offshore secrecy to hide their identities.