AFRICA ( Commonwealth Union) _ The son of Nigeria’s next president, Bola Tinubu, now owns a corrupt London property that the Buhari administration had planned to seize through an offshore shell company that is also connected to the politician’s proxies.
As part of the Pandora Papers investigation, it is published that the relationship between Tinubu and the property at 32 Grove End Road in London as well as its connection to a petrodollar fraud probe in Nigeria. Bloomberg, citing UK company filings, claimed in a new report on Tuesday that Seyi Tinubu is a beneficial owner of the property through shell company Aranda Overseas Corporations.
However, Aranda was founded in the British Virgin Islands in November 1999 by Mr. Tinubu’s dependable surrogates, former Osun State governor Gboyega Oyetola and buddy Eluyemi Eludoyin. The incorporation was completed months after Mr. Tinubu took office as governor of Lagos State, the center of business in Nigeria.
But after the UK passed a new law requiring foreign companies investing in the country’s property market to declare their beneficial owners, Seyi Tinubu’s connection was only just made public by Bloomberg. Mr. Tinubu and his son Seyi declined to comment when Bloomberg inquired about the situation. Seyi, a businessman with a passion for advertising, participated actively in his father’s political campaign.
According to documents obtained from the UK property registry, Zavlil Holdings Ltd, a shell corporation formed in the British Virgin Islands, a known tax haven, purchased the property with title number 340992 for £11.95 million in July 2013. Additional documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES revealed that Kolawole Aluko, a fugitive sought by law enforcement in Nigeria and the US for money laundering, is the owner of Zavlil Holdings Limited.
Kola Aluko and Jide Omokore were charged with money laundering and multi-million dollar fraud in the US and Nigeria, reportedly working together with Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former minister of petroleum resources.
All of the government’s requests were granted by the court. Trial judge Oluremi Oguntoyinbo rejected the defendant’s request to have the Mareva injunction against the homes thrown out in October 2017.
However, documents obtained from the UK property register showed that Mr. Aluko had sold the home for £9 million to Aranda incorporated by Mr. Tinubu’s surrogates, Messrs. Oyetola and Eludoyin, right around the time (on October 18, 2017) that the court had rejected the defendant’s attempt to have the injunction dismissed.
