Mike Adenuga, Andy Uba, late Ooni of Ife, others named among hidden offshore assets owners #PANAMA PAPER

Some of the new names uncovered include the founder of telecommunication company, Globacom, Mike Adenuga; Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sadiq Sani Bello and the late Ooni of Ife, Okunade Sijuwade.

According to the online news portal, the list also contained names of Arik Chairman, Joseph Arumemi-Johnson and his wife, Mary, as well as two serving senators – Andy Uba (Anambra) and Ibrahim Gobir (Sokoto).

Other top business moguls, politicians, and their family members were also found in the infamous database, including those currently holding public offices.

The Panama Papers details names of companies, their owners and the particular tax havens the offshore firms are domiciled.

The documents were obtained by German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) with over 80 media organisations around the world.

Names of powerful individuals in the country, including serving public officer holders had been published in the past weeks, revealing the assets they hid away from the Code of Conduct Bureau.

The Nigerian law stipulates that all public office holders must declare their assets to the Bureau. Although some of them have denied owning the offshore assets.

Some of the billionaires whose offshore assets had been revealed include, Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote; President of the Nigerian Senate, Bukola Saraki; convicted former governor of Delta State, James Ibori; the boss of Oando, Nigeria’s biggest indigenous oil firm, Wale Tinubu

Their assets are allegedly hidden away in tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands, Panama, and Seychelles.

The unprecedented year-long investigation involving 11.5 million secret documents – which stretch from 1977 to December 2015 – exposed the hidden underground of the world economy, a network of banks, law firms and other middlemen that utilize shell companies, sometimes using them to hide illegal wealth.
Source: Pulse News