The United Kingdom's Serious Fraud Office (SFO),
SaharaReporters has learned, is on the verge on launching an
investigation under the Unexplained Wealth Order into how the Messrs
after receiving a letter from the government of President
Muhammadu Buhari. Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu, President and Deputy
President of the Senate respectively, acquired pricey landed properties
in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Saraki, at various times governor of
Kwara State and Special Assistant to former President Olusegun
Obasanjo, is the owner of two London properties valued at
about £15million. Sources at the SFO told SaharaReporters that his
properties to be investigated are located at No. 7 and 8 Whittaker
Street, Belgravia, London.Mr.Ekweremadu, a former Secretary to the Government and Chief of Staff to the governor of Enugu state. The Senator acquired two properties worth £4m in London via fronts.The properties are Flat 4 Varsity Court, Homer Street, WIH, 4NW London and 52 Ayleston Avenue NW6 7AB, London. SFO sources said there is a serious curiosity in the agency that Mr. Ike Ekweremadu
acquired Flat
4, Varsity Court, Homer Street, WIH 4NW, London, under the guise of
Ikeoha Foundation, which is registered with Nigeria's Corporate Affairs
Commission as a charity. The property is worth £830, 000.
The Deputy Senate President acquired the second property using a shell company, Property Circle Ltd Incorporated, which was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. The property is worth £2.9million.
SaharaReporters gathered from SFO operatives that another property in the Varsity Court, purportedly owned by C & V Management Company Ltd and 44 Homer Street purportedly owned by SJW Estates Ltd, incorporated in Jersey, will also be investigated. The value of the property is £18.5million.
The Deputy Senate President acquired the second property using a shell company, Property Circle Ltd Incorporated, which was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. The property is worth £2.9million.
SaharaReporters gathered from SFO operatives that another property in the Varsity Court, purportedly owned by C & V Management Company Ltd and 44 Homer Street purportedly owned by SJW Estates Ltd, incorporated in Jersey, will also be investigated. The value of the property is £18.5million.
In addition to Messrs. Saraki and Ekweremadu, Mr. Bassey Albert
Akpan, a senator, is also to be investigated by the SFO. Mr. Akpan, a
former Akwa Ibom State Finance Commissioner, disclosed in his assets
declaration form dated August 8, 2015, that he owns has a number of
landed properties in London. SFO sources said the Mr. Akpan claimed to
have acquired the properties through Barclays Bank of London-financed
mortgage totaling £1million.
"The SFO will investigate the circumstances under which Senator
Bassey Albert Akpan acquired all these landed properties in the United
Kingdom. The circumstances are suspicious, taking into account that for
the past 10 years, he has always been a public officer and his
legitimate earnings are far below the worth of the assets he has
acquired in the United Kingdom," said an SFO source.
The SFO source said they have received encouraging cooperation from
the Buhari regime explaining that the aforementioned politicians
couldn't have afforded the properties through lawful means, the regime
in a letter to the SFO detailed their salaries and emoluments as well as
revealing that they did not declare the assets as required by law.
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