Panama Papers: Lawyer hired by Nigeria to track Abacha loot has 178 firms in tax havens

Panama Papers: Lawyer hired by Nigeria to track Abacha loot has 178 firms in tax havens

 

 

Enrico Monfrini, a Swiss attorney hired by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to track missing Abacha loot in Swiss banks is himself operating over 178 companies in offshore tax havens, a massive leak of secret documents belonging to offshore shell companies has revealed.

Mr. Monfrini was hired in 2000 by the then new civilian government of the country to help establish the existence of and repatriate over $4 billion allegedly looted by former military dictator, Sani Abacha.

The documents showed that Mr. Monfrini, an influential legal practitioner in Switzerland, is director of 178 companies scattered around Panama and the British Virgin Islands.

The revelations are among the findings of a lengthy investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other global news organizations.

Although the documents did not directly implicate Mr. Monfrini as having committed any crime, still, the revelation points to the hypocrisy of a man widely revered for his remarkable ability to dismantle tax evaders and looters across jurisdictions.

Mr. Monfrini is a founding partner of Monfrini Crettol & Associates, one of the most recognised legal services providers in Switzerland.

In 2000, Mr. Obasanjo hired Mr. Monfrini’s firm to help recover Abacha loot, which was estimated to be more than $4 billion at the time.

According to Mr. Obasanjo, Mr. Monfrini helped the Nigerian government secure the release of N267 billion–$1.34 billion. 

As at December 2010, Mr. Monfrini was the director of the following offshore companies in tax havens:

Director of 17 PMA (Panama) company in ACT status.
Director of 3 BVI company (British Virgin Island) in ACT status.
Director of 1 PMA company in CAR status (to others)
Director of 38 PMA company in DIS status
Director of 1 BVI in DIS status.
Director of 44 PMA company in INA status.
Director of 65 PMA company in MOR status.
Director of 6 BVI company in MOR status.
Director of 3 PMA company in REN status.

Mr. Monfrini could not be reached to comment for this story. 

The excitement mounts as The Voice Nigeria premieres on the 10th of April

The excitement mounts as The Voice Nigeria premieres on the 10th of April 

 

 

Internationally renowned franchise The Voice which has won audiences in countries like Australia, US, South Africa and the UK is finally here in Nigeria! Viewers in Nigeria and across Africa can enjoy the amazing show which also  gives an amazing platform to talented individuals to showcase their talent to the world.


The Regional Director, M-Net West Africa, Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu, said:

“ We are delighted to bring The Voice Nigeria to our Nigerian and African  viewers. The show will be no different from all the other international adaptations and our viewers can expect the very best of television entertainment even as we wait to discover the next generation of talented singers! chairs. The Voice Nigeria employs the same format including a panel of four coaches (Tu Face, Waje, Timi Dakolo and Patoranking) who critique the contestants’ performances. The coaches will then guide their teams of selected artistes through the remainder of the season whilst also competing to ensure that their talent wins the competition.

 You can catch all the excitement on Africa Magic Showcase DStv Ch151 and Africa Magic Urban DStv Ch153 Sundays at 7pm from the 10th of April.

And how amazing is this: You can also download the The Voice Nigeria app which is now available on IOS and Google stores. With the app, you get to stay in on the thrills of The Voice Nigeria!

Be sure to join our hosts Ik Osakioduwa and Stephanie Coker as they bring their magic and infectious energy on The Voice Nigeria.

The Voice Nigeria is brought to you by Africa Magic and proudly sponsored by Airtel (the smartphone network) in association with Coca-Cola (share a coke, share a feeling)

FIFA President Denies Connections With Leaked Panama Papers

FIFA President Denies Connections With Leaked Panama Papers

 

 

FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, has denied wrongdoing after leaked Panama papers suggested he signed off on a contract with two businessmen who have since been accused of bribery by the FBI.

Hugo and Mariano Jinkis bought TV rights for UEFA Champions League football and immediately sold them on for almost three times the price.

The 2006 contract was signed off by Infantino when he was a UEFA Director.

Infantino says he is “dismayed” that his “integrity is being doubted”.

News of the contract came to light after 11 million documents were leaked from the Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca.

The offices of European football’s governing body were searched by Swiss police after ex-Secretary-General, Gianni Infantino was named in papers leaked from the Panamanian law firm.

Meanwhile UEFA says it is giving police all relevant documents in its possession.

Boko Haram: FG to complete reconstruction of UN building by October

The Federal Government has reassured that it will meet the October 2016 deadline for the repair of the United Nations building that was bombed by insurgents in 2013.

This assurance was given Wednesday by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, while playing host to a delegation led by the United Nations Resident Coodinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Nigeria, Ms Fatma Samoura, Wednesday in his office.

While assuring that the present government is very security conscious, he added that terrorism, has been curtailed and Nigeria is a safer place today.

In response to the plight of about 1,900 UN Staff that are presently suffering office accommodation inconveniences, Udoma stated that the Federal Government is sorry about the present UN Office accommodation inconvenience.

“I shall effectively liaise with the Federal Capital Territory Administration and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure that the October 2016 rebuilding deadline of the Nigeria’s UN building is met, all that is required for the staff to move into the building will be addressed,” he assured.

Kaduna has more gold than South Africa – Gov El-Rufai

Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai, has revealed that the state has more gold than South Africa and could attract as much as N40 billion in revenue if harnessed.

Speaking at the opening of the Kaduna Economic and Investment Forum in the state, on Wednesday, he revealed that the state was leveraging on its agricultural prowess to provide interest free loans for farmers in the state adding that the investment in mining gold would also be focused on the local miners.
“On solid minerals, you’ve seen the presentation, the minerals we have in Kaduna, but they missed out a very important mineral: gold,” he said.

“We’ve just confirmed that Kaduna state, indeed Birnin Gwari local government alone, has more gold than South Africa. This is proven, this is verifiable; we have all the data and we are collaborating with the federal ministry of solid mineral.

“To ensure that we bring international companies that would invest billions of naira in Birnin Gwari, to exploit our gold and export it, so that Kaduna state and Nigeria gets the benefits.
“But more than that, these companies, would also take the local miners, and formalise them and train them, so that they would all continue to make money.

“This is the model we are pursuing and we think about 40 billion would be attracted in solid minerals.”
“We have put in our budget, our intent to borrow N2.1 billion from the central bank for the rice anchor programme. The anchor borrowing programme enables the state government to access funds from the central bank at one percent interest.

“The state government has decided that our farmers would get these monies interest free. So we have put in the budget, the interest component of the anchor borrowing project. We pay the interest.
“We are also doing N5 billion naira for ginger production in Kaduna. We have putting N5 billion to triple ginger production, we have the best ginger in the world.

“We also were the first state to introduce the treasury single account and here I must express my gratitude to the World Bank, the IMF and the central bank, for giving us the technical assistance that made us implement the treasury single account in less than two months. It’s a world record.

“Essentially, we moved from 470 government accounts, to one account. 124 MDAs complied, and as at the 31st of August, we had nearly 25 billion in our TSA, which was a sort of record.”

Buhari to embark on state visit to China next week

In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by the China Ambassador to Nigeria, Gu Xiaojie, he said the visit would be Buhari’s first visit to China since he came to office last May.

He said President Buhari would be the first African Head of State to visit China after the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Johannesburg Summit, which is of great importance to both China-Nigeria and China-Africa relations, and draws great attention from both countries and Africa.

‘’Distance cannot separate true friends who feel so close even when they are thousands of miles apart. The China-Nigeria friendship has stood the test of time and became stronger and more vigorous despite the vast oceans between the two countries.

‘’On February 10, 1971, China and Nigeria established diplomatic relationship, and ever since then, the bilateral relations have been developing smoothly and steadily,’’ the ambassador said.

He added that in April 2005, China and Nigeria, the most populous developing countries in the world and Africa, declared the establishment of strategic partnership, which lifted the bilateral ties to a new high and sounded the clarion call to form an all-directional, multi-layered and wide-ranging cooperation.

“Since then, the pragmatic cooperation in various fields between the two countries have been leading in many ways in China’s cooperation with African countries, featuring fruitful achievements and exemplary highlights,’’ he added.

The ambassador further stated that in recent years, China had witnessed frequent high-level exchanges between Nigeria and his country, saying the political mutual trust has been enhanced continuously.

He added: “In 2014, Chinese Premier, Li Keqiang, visited Nigeria and reached extensive consensus with Nigerian leaders. Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping, met with Nigerian president twice, exchanged views on bilateral relations and issues of common concern, reached wide-ranging agreements and charted the direction of future development of China-Nigeria relations.

‘’Economically, the cooperation between China and Nigeria in various areas such as infrastructure, energy, trade and finance, has scored impressive achievements. Nigeria is the first African country to accept Chinese RMB in its foreign reserve.

‘’Last year, the bilateral trade volume stood at $14.94 billion, which represented 8.3 per cent of the total trade volume between China and Africa, and 42 per cent of the total trade volume between China and ECOWAS countries.’’

Xiaojie said Nigeria remains China’s No.1 engineering contract market, No.2 export market, No.3 trading partner, and major investment destination in Africa, adding that China has invested a total of over $2.5 billion in Nigeria.

Photo of the day

Photo of the day

 

The fuel situation in Nigeria has made some people to discover their innate abilities. Look at Mallam Yusuf what he discovered of himself this period. What do you have to offer?