Thursday, February 4, 2010

US: Atiku Abubakar in $40million money-laundering accusation with wife, Jennifer


A United States Senate report has accused Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s former Vice-President, of laundering over $40 million in suspicious funds into the United States between 2000 and 2008. And his partner in the lucrative effort was Jennifer Douglas, his fourth wife. Ms. Douglas is sometimes known as Lady Jamilah Jennifer, or Douglas E, or Jennifer Iwenjora, the name by which she was known in the 1980s when she was a reporter with the Nigeria Television Authority in Lagos. According to the report, which was written by the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations, most of the funds were through wire transfers sent by offshore corporations to U.S. bank accounts. Of the $40 million identified in the US investigation, $25 million was reportedly wire-transferred by offshore corporations into more than 30 U.S. bank accounts opened by Ms. Douglas, primarily by Guernsey Trust Company Nigeria Ltd., LetsGo Ltd. Inc., and Sima Holding Ltd. “In a 2008 civil complaint, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Ms. Douglas received over $2 million in bribe payments in 2001 and 2002, from Siemens AG, a major German corporation,” the report says. “While Ms. Douglas denies wrongdoing, Siemens has already pled (pleaded) guilty to U.S. criminal charges and settled civil charges related to bribery and told the Subcommittee that it sent the payments to one of her U.S. accounts.