Press Release
6th
April, 2016
Stop Secret companies from
helping corrupt Nigerians hide stolen wealth
Benin City, Edo State…Recent revelations in the Wikileaks of
financial corruption around the globe, daubed the Panama Papers, indicate that
about 140 politicians and public officials, including 12 current and former
world leaders have used more than 214,000 offshore entities to hide the
ownership of their assets. Names of Nigerians already being probed and tried
for corruption and who have used their positions in public office to steal from
the common purse have featured in the recent cesspool. I am inclined to believe that the late
General Sanni Abacha used the same methods to loot public funds and hide them
in offshore havens in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the United States. Nigeria must take proactive measures now.
The
Panama revelations have come at a time in Nigeria when very lean financial
emoluments accruing from crude oil sales have nearly crippled our economy, subjected
the average Nigerian to passing nights at fuel stations and perennial power
outages.
‘I
call on the Nigerian government to review our anti-money laundering laws
according to global best practices, to curtail the ability of politically
exposed persons to use their positions to siphon public funds to tax havens. If
the government can at least develop and make public its asset recovery
blueprint, it would go a long way in sending an initial message to the comity
of nations that Nigeria is ready to walk the talk in the fight against
corruption’.
According
to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, ICIJ, the
organization which investigated the Panama scandal, 140 politicians and public
officials from around the world, current and former world leaders include prime
ministers of Iceland and Pakistan, the president of Ukraine, and the king of
Saudi Arabia, and more than 214,000 offshore entities appeared in the leak and
is connected to people in more than 200 countries and territories.
‘Since governments
all over the world including the US, UK and India have started to respond to
this monumental fraud, it would not be
out of place to ask President Buhari to order the EFCC to investigate Nigerians
whose names have featured in the Panama Paper Leak. We ask the international
community as well to assist Africa in overhauling an international tax system
which helps the few rich to be richer and impoverishes the poor’.
Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku
Editor-in-chief
Bob MajiriOghene Communications
.
