The war against corruption by the Obasanjo administration has been dealt a severe blow with the revelation that the president's men are involved in money laundering in the United States. Major newspapers are asking why a top presidential official is still holding his job while under trail in America for smuggling $170,000. The EFCC will not investigate, for obvious reasons.
The reason given by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, is that he can only wade into the matter if the United States formally notified his commission on the investigation.
The alleged money laundering scandal involving Dr. Andy Uba, the Special Assistant on Special Duties to President Olusegun Obasanjo has dazed Aso Rock, with President Obasanjo too shocked to personally utter a word about it. Only a puerile remark has come from an aide of the president. And the response even skirted the issues.
The scandal also involves the President’s Temperance Farms, in Ota, Ogun State, with the laundered money used to buy some equipment for the farm. Dr. Uba was alleged to have smuggled into the United States the sum of $170,000 in 2003, using Obasanjo’s presidential jet. Efforts to speak with Remi Oyo, Special Assistant to the President on Media, proved futile as a lady who picked the call said: “madam is not around now.” She is said to be on the presidential tour of Asia.
Uba (also known as Emmanuel Nnamdi Uba with address given as 772, Ibrahim Taiwo Street, Asokoro, Abuja) was alleged to have smuggled $170,000 cash into the US on September 22, 2003 in Nigeria's presidential jet while he (Uba) accompanied President Olusegun Obasanjo to New York to attend a meeting of the United Nations.
The money was said to have been illegally deposited in tranches at various banks in Portland, Oregon with one Miss Loretta Mabinton, Uba’s friend, allegedly acting as a front.
But the Presidency, which spoke through the Political Adviser to the President, Mr. Akin Osuntokun, however said the allegation is coming from a “tendentious source” and as such “it is dismissible.”
Also a friend of Uba, who spoke on condition of anonymity last night, said the allegation is “based on rumours” and “unworthy of reactions of any sort.
“It’s one of the realities you must face when you are running for a public office. It’s one of the heats of the kitchen and nothing more,” the source proffered.
Uba, who yesterday collected nomination form to contest the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Gubernatorial primaries in Anambra State, is being investigated by US authorities over the allegations.
According to an affidavit deposed to by Mr. Guy Gino, a Special Agent with the US Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE), the presidential aide is alleged to remain “under surveillance whenever he steps into the US for money laundering and advance fee fraud.”
Obasanjo’s Temperance Farm, Otta, Ogun State, is also alleged to be under investigation over "$45,487.28 (about N6.5 million) from the laundered cash which was used to buy assorted farm equipment that were shipped to Obasanjo Farms in Ota".
hen contacted for comments last night, EFCC boss, Ribadu, said like all other cases originating from the United States, his commission would wait for official legal request. "We have a working agreement and the usual procedure is that they will notify us. So far, all that there is in the report is that a woman and a government official are being investigated. No agency of government was mentioned."
Ribadu added that as far as he was concerned, "there is no record in the report that the money in question belongs to the Nigerian government. But the important thing is that if the US authorities inform us formally, we will take action."
According to the report, Uba at the point of entry failed to report the fund ($170,000) to US Customs and Border Protection and "a portion of the money was later used to purchase a Mercedes Benz Car for Uba at $91,262.50 (about N12.9 million)."
"Another sum of $45,487,28 (about N6.5 million) was used to pay Mabinton’s MBNA credit card account which had been used to purchase assorted farm equipment that were shipped to Obasanjo’s farms in Ota."
It was gathered that Uba and Mabinton did not wire the cash through banking transaction which would have drawn attention to "origination, source and destination."
District Judge Malcom F. Marsh gave the order. Uba and Mabinton’s lawyer was Douglas A. Stringer.
The vehicle and funds from Mabinton’s bank account were administratively seized on the orders of a US District Court of Oregon on June 12, 2006 "being proceeds of bulk cash smuggling, violations of currency and monetary instrument reporting requirements, currency transaction reporting requirements and money laundering".
It was gathered that the money used to buy the Benz was converted to cashier’s check.
hen interviewed by Secret Service agents on November 6, 2003, Uba was said to have confessed to bringing the cash to the US. He did not, however, respond to the question on why he refused to file the Report of International Transportation of Currency or Monetary Instruments Report (CMIR).
The Atlanta branch of the Secret Service, according to the report, had previously suspected Uba as being involved in money laundering deals but, in his defence of December 20, 2004, he said the money was part of his "savings and family money".
On June 3, 2005, the customs said Uba’s statement on his source of money was not legitimate.
On April 4, 2006, Uba and Mabinton’s lawyer, Stringer filed a "verified statement of Interest in Defendant Property".
Another "Answer to Complaint, Affirmative Defences and Counterclaim against the United States of America" was filed by Uba and Mabinton on April 24, 2006.
On August 31, 2006, a move was made by the duo to settle the matter out of court.
On September 27, 2006 Judge Marsh ordered: "Based upon the Settlement Agreement filed on August 31, 2006 between the United States and claimant’s Loretta Mabinton and Emmanuel Uba, and upon the records and files in this action;
"It is ordered that this court has subject matter jurisdiction in this action and the sub res defendant, in rem, $26,000 in United States currency, is forfeited to the United States of America, free and clear of the claims of any and all persons, including Loretta Mabinton and Emmanuel Uba.
"The United States Customs and Border Protection is directed to immediately seize and transfer the custody and possession of the sub res defendant, in rem, $26,000 in United States currency, to the secretary of Treasury of the United States for disposition in accordance with applicable statutes and regulations and provisions of this judgment."
Gino, in a 21-page affidavit, said it was not the first time Mabinton would deposit such funds allegedly on behalf of Uba at Electra Federal Credit Union (EFCU).
"The vehicle registered in the state of Oregon to Loretta Mabinton. Seattle ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents spoke with bank officials, who informed the agents of recent deposits by Loretta Mabinton totalling approximately $200,000. The bank officials also indicated that several of the deposits appeared to have been structures," he said.
EFCU officials, he said, reported that they first observed suspicious activity by Mabinton on September 2, 2003 when she structured a deposit in US currency.
"On September 23, 2003, bank officials told me that Mabinton brought $160,000 in United States currency to the bank in a purple plastic grocery bag. The currency consisted of 1,600 new $100 FRN stamped with the phrase ‘AL GULAM’.
"Mabinton opened a second account in her name at the EFCU and deposited the $160,000. Bank officials advised me that Mabinton added Emmanuel Uba’s name to the account several weeks later," Gino said.
When a ‘freeze’ was placed on Mabinton’s account, she on November 5, 2003 contacted the Secret Service, Portland, Oregon President Office and spoke with Special Agent Mark Kehoe upon receiving notification of the frozen funds.
She revealed to Kehoe that any notes stamped with the words "AL GULAM" came from a bank in Nigeria that is used by her fiancée Emmanuel Nnamdi Uba.
"Mabinton stated that she flew to New York on September 22, 2003 and received $170,000 in United States currency from Uba while at the UN Plaza Hotel, Mabinton stated that Uba had flown into the United States with the currency on the Nigerian President’s aircraft.
Mabinton stated that Uba is the ‘Special Assistant to the President’ of Nigeria and that he was not required to declare any currency if he was flying on the President’s plane.
"Mabintton stated that she needed the $170,000 to handle Uba’s personal/business affairs. Additionally, he asked her to buy a Mercedes Benz SL 500 with some of the money and ship it to him in Nigeria. Mabinton said she deposited $160,000 into a joint account with Uba at Electra Federal Credit Union and deposited $10,000 into her own personal account," Gino said in the affidavit.
The special agent said since Uba was not "an accredited diplomat with the Nigerian government," he has no official diplomatic standing in the United States and even "if the money had been transported into the United States via a diplomatic pouch, the money could only be used for official purposes of the government of Nigeria."
However, Mallam Uba Sani, Special Assistant to President Obasanjo on Public Affairs, told P.M.NEWS that “The presidency is studying the situation and has read the report just like every other person. We shall make our position known in due course.” The Political Adviser to President Obasanjo, Mr. Akin Osuntokun, said the allegation is coming from a “tendentious source” and as such “it is dismissible”. On his part, EFCC boss, Ribadu said his commission would wait for official legal request before it acts on the allegation.
“There is no record in the report that the money in question belongs to the Nigerian government. But the important thing is that if the U.S. authorities inform us formally, we will take action,” Ribadu said. Andy was first accused of smuggling thousands of dollars into the United States of America on 22, September, 2003, via New York, when Obasanjo went to attend a function of the United Nations. The President’s farm in Ota, Ogun State is also under investigation because $45,487.28 (about N6.5 million) from the laundered cash was used to buy assorted farm equipment that were shipped to the Obasanjo Farms in Otta.
saying that in God’s judgement, there is no appeal. We are only watching how the drama will unfold.”
