Luxurious
mansions owned by some Nigerians, including those standing trial for
corruption, in the United Kingdom, have been exposed.
President Muhammadu Buhari and the
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr.
Ibrahim Magu, are billed to depart Nigeria tomorrow(Tuesday) for an anti-graft summit in London.
In a report entitled: ‘Palaces of Corruption’, The Mail
on Sunday, published pictures and locations of houses belonging to two
late former governors, who faced graft charges in their lifetime.
They are Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who
governed Bayelsa State between 1999 and 2005, and Abubakar Audu,
two-term governor of Kogi State, who was seeking a return to the
government house at the time of his death. Both men died in 2015.
The property of James Ibori, former
Delta State governor, who is currently serving a jail term, was also
included in the report, in addition to that of Jimoh Ibrahim, lawyer and
billionaire businessman. Ibrahim, though not a politician and has never
been investigated for corruption, he is believed to be heavily
indebted to the banks.
Nigerians were not the only ones listed in the report.
The children of Muammar Gaddafi, Libyan
dictator; Omar Bongo, late president of Gabon; Ilham Aliyev,
Azerbaijan’s leader; and Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Kyrgyzstan president, were
also included.
“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 read.
Nigerians are known to have properties in choice locations across the world.
Recently, Süddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper, obtained documents, #Panama Papers, that exposed how over 100 Nigerians stashed billions in tax havens.
• Culled from The Cable
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