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Bermuda pressing ahead with money laundering charges against Prince Audu,AC gubernatorial candidate in Kogi State

March 26, 2008

Authorities in Bermuda are pressing ahead with money laundering charges against former Kogi state governor, Prince Abubakar Audu, according to court filings obtained by Saharareporters. The filings detail the former governor's financial involvements in the tiny Caribbean island nation, which is well known as a tax haven. Prince Audu is among Nigeria's former top public officials whose electoral petitions over the flawed April 2007 elections have been favored by one of the tribunals adjudicating in cases of electoral malpractices.


Prince Audu is currently the gubernatorial candidate of the leading opposition party, Action Congress (AC) in a court-ordered special election holding in Kogi state next Saturday—March 29. A Nigerian appeal court had earlier upheld an electoral tribunal’s invalidation of a governorship election held April 14, 2007.

In the court documents released by the Supreme Court of Bermuda, civil division, Prince Audu was ordered not to interfere with the sum of $1,271,413.95 million held with Old Mutual (Bermuda) Ltd., formerly known as Omnia (Bermuda) Ltd. with addresses at 25 Church Street, Hamilton, Hm12, Bermuda.
 
The court order came after an affidavit sworn to by the director of public prosecutions in Bermuda. According to sources knowledgeable about the case, Prince Audu made suspicious monetary transactions in Bermuda, which attracted the attention of the island's financial regulators. Sources disclose that in a single transaction in late 2006, the sum of $5 million was transferred to Bermuda from an offshore account.

However, upon learning of the interest of Bermuda authorities in the transfer, Prince Audu quickly transferred about $3.7 million out of Bermuda, leading the Supreme Court to issue an order prohibiting him from further dissipation of his assets. In accordance with Bermuda's proceeds of crime act of 1997, the Supreme Court has since frozen those assets.

Prince Audu is no stranger to accusations of corruption. Since leaving office as the governor of Kogi state in May 2003, Audu had a running battle with Nigeria's anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The agency arrested and charged him with money laundering, graft, and abuse of office. However, he has succeeded in stalling the charges against him, as he became a regular face at Aso Rock villa, the official residence of Umar Yar'adua.

An adept at manipulating financial regulators, Audu in 2000 bought a mansion in Potomac, Maryland at a price tag of $1.7 million in one of America's richest zip codes. His posh home is in an area where many other Nigerians with questionable sources of wealth have bought pricey homes.

Audu had initially denied ownership of the house. But he owned up after a May 2002 petition written by the Nigeria Leadership Foundation (NLF) and addressed to a federal investigator in Nigeria showed incontrovertible evidence that linked him to the property. The same month, he transferred the property at $0.00 to a front company, Belside Properties, a limited liability company incorporated in 2001 and managed by one Thomas Kaufman.

However, by July of 2003 the house had been forfeited to the state of Maryland due to Audu's failure to file property returns for 2002. Also by 2004, Belside Properties had amended its name to another company named Goldwindow LLC managed by one A. Aliyu. Some sources claim Aliyu was the attorney general to the Kogi state government while Audu was governor.

Goldwindow then filed for reinstatement of Audu's mansion upon change of the name.  

This Saturday, Prince Audu will seek to be reelected to governorship of Kogi State, the same position that apparently made him into one of Nigeria's richest ex-governors, and a man whose prosecution on graft charges has been bogged down by Yar'adua’s "rule of law" mantra.

When Audu vacated office in 2003, he left a paltry sum of N500, 000 in the state treasury, and a state university without valid accreditation by the National University Commission (NUC).
 
If Audu wins on Saturday, he will be returning to office richer than the state he once governed.

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