Information available to Saharareporters has revealed how Col.MB Marwa, former military administrator of Lagos state and proprietor of the defunct Albarka Airlines helped late General Abacha to launder funds stolen from Nigeria abroad. Col. Mohammed B. Marwa is currently being screened by Nigeria's senate to become a Nigerian ambassador to a yet-to-be named country. According to documents obtained by Saharareporters, Marwa's case stated when Mr Enrico Monfrini a Switzerland-based counsel representing Nigeria contacted the Federal government about Mutual Legal Assistance request from Jersey authorities in respect of an account with CIBC (Cayman Island ) Ltd, beneficially owned by Col. Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd)
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Before then, Jersey authorities have been investigating the corrupt payments totaling more than $110 million made by one Mr. Raj. Arjandras BHOJWANI and his company, Tata Sales and Services SA (TOSS) to General Abacha, in exchange for the granting of inflated contracts for the supply of vehicles to the Federal Government of Nigeria in the sum of $149 million (contract dated 19 April, 1996) and $29 million (contract dated 12 August 1997); the context of which the Jersey authorities suspected that part of the corrupt proceeds had been laundered was based on documents they received from Cayman Islands.
Jersey authorities also in the letter referred, requested for an urgent need to receive witness statement from Col.Buba Marwa regarding the payment of the second contract by the Central Bank of Nigeria to TOSS; three payments totaling $12,228,750 between October and November 1997 to the account of Ocean Queen Universal Corp with CIBC SA, Geneva , which was opened on 2nd October, 1997 by Mr.Gabriel Katri, who had designated Col. Mohammed Buba Marwa as its beneficial owner; a transfer of $12,481,500 ordered by Mr. Katri to the account of Ashar Ltd. with Trans- National Bank, Nairobi, a bank believed to be owned by Daniel Arap Moi’s family which was heavily used by Mr. Katri to launder the funds of the Abachas and another account A4725 said to have been opened by Mr. Katri on 9th March 1998 with CIBC Bank and Trust Company (Cayman) Ltd in the name of Tiger Investments Ltd. without a beneficial owner on any of its documents.
However the document transmitted by the bank showed that Col. Marwa was granted signatory power on the account;the four additional Transfer totaling $2,319,901 credited in the account A4725 of Tiger Investments Ltd. from Trans-National Bank; the transfer totaling $7.9Million ordered by Mr. Katri between December 1999 and May 2000 to an account in the name of Insured Escrow Service with Bank First, Oklahoma City reference “Albarka Airlines - Alhaji Muhammed Buba”; a total of $1Million paid to the Ocean Queen account between November 1999 and May 2001 and to be latter transferred to accounts related to Mr. Katri (notably accounts in the name of Mr. Lex LIN, a Chinese living in Nigeria);payment of $400,000 made to Whitewhale Investments and Ethel Finance Inc., companies managed by Mr. Katri;payment of a total $1,500,000:00 paid to various accounts in Taiwan Which appear to be related with each other and may be a money laundering scheme; an additional account “301260 LEOPARD” which Col. Marwa opened under the name “ Mohammed Buba” with Private Investment Bank Ltd. Nassau, Bahamas; the two transfers of $693, 457 and $353, 865 received in the Leopard account on 15th June, 2001, 19th June 2001 respectively, among others.
Saharareporters gathered that sometimes in 1996 the Federal Government of Nigeria purchased Tata trucks from an Indian Company, TATA Overseas Sales and Services (TOSS) S.A, via a contract worth approximatelly $149 million in which Buba Marwa acted as a representative of the Nigerian Government to supply of 1,500 Tata trucks for the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Police in furtherance of which the contractors were paid the contract sum with a 100% Bank Guarantee waiver for the advance fee while Marwa was the Defence Attaché in the Nigerian Mission to the United Nations in New York.
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Interestingly, TATA Overseas Sales and Service contractors only supplied 751 trucks to the Office of the then Chief of Defence Staff out of which the Police benefited about 285 of the total trucks supplied.
But the juicy end of the contract would only encourage Abacha in 1997 to grant another contract to TOSS to supply the same type of trucks to the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria at a sum of $29 million which was facilitated by Col. Yakubu Bako, who was then the Chief of Logistics of the electoral body on behalf of the Federal Government.
Saharareporters found out that in the course of payments of this second contract that Col. MB Marwa opened an account, Ocean Queen Universal Corporation with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (Suisse) S.A, Geneva (CIBC) into which three (3) remittances totalling $12,228,750 meant for the contractors were paid between October and November 1997 and the money was further laundered in to another account, Ashar Ltd with Account number 04-400-984 at Trans National Bank Nairobi, Kenya allegedly at the instance of Gen. Sani Abacha.
A further sum of $12, 356,670:00 was transferred from the Nairobi account to an account, TIGER INVESTMENTS LTD No.A4725 at CIBC Bank and Trust Company (Cayman) Ltd. believed to have been opened in March 1998 by Marwa's money laundering associate, Gabriel Katri, who was given Power of Attorney to control the Ocean Queen Account at CIBC, Geneva by Marwa.
Saharareporters findings shows that TIGER INVESTMENTS entered into a purported loan agreement between November 1999 and June 2000 worth $8,950,000 with ALBARKA AIRLINES, an airline company fully owned and initiated by Marwa which led to various transfers totalling $7.9 million into an account-INSURED ESCROW SERVICE- with Bank First, Oklahoma City, in favour of Albarka Airlines - Alhaji Mohammed Buba Marwa.
Marwa also instructed his agent to open another account, LEOPARD at Private Investment Bank Ltd, Nassau, Bahamas into which two transfers of $693,457:00 dated 15th June 2001 and $353,865:00 dated 19th June were made. The funds were applied for the expenses of the Albarka Airlines on the instruction of the former Lagos state administrator, who opened the account with a Nigerian issued Diplomatic Passport No. 0300646 issued in Abuja on 23rd September, 1993.
Apart from this, Saharareporters also established through available documents that apart from the proceeds of the Tata contract, Gen. Marwa also helped the Abachas to launder the sum $17 million for Gen. Abacha from the accounts of the Nigerian United Nation Mission to Trans National Bank, Nairobi, Kenya in 1996.
It was gathered that MB Marwa confessed to the crime of direct stealing and money laundering of same soon after he was arrested detained and interrogated by the EFCC, via a letter he wrote to Obasanjo dated 18th August, 2006 captioned “LETTER OF PROFOUND APOLOGY AND REMORSE” a copy of which was obtained exclusively by Saharareporters Marwa tried to paint himself as a victim of a firm military command structure.
In the letter, Alhaji Marwa apologized to Obasanjo, pledging his allegaince to the former president and insisting that he was commanded by the former head of state to carry out the acts of money laundering and direct stealing under duress pleading that he could not have disobeyed the late dictator because he never thought the transfers were illegitimate.
However, reports written by the security agencies on the case shows that Col. Buba Marwa conspired with the then Head of State Gen. Abacha to steal and launder public funds for their personal gains. An EFCC report cited by Saharareporters said that Marwa's defence of obeying orders from a superior military officer cannot hold water as he should not and cannot obey unlawful orders.The report said that the transfer of $17 million by the suspect from the account of Nigerian UN mission in New York to Abacha’s private account in Kenya which has no connection with any contract whatsoever could not have been done ignorantly.
"He must have known too well that the money went to Abacha’s private account for his personal benefits. It became more glaring and incriminating since Buba Marwa himself has benefited from the proceeds of this crime. This is because the accounts from where some of the laundered proceed rested in the Cayman Island turned out to be what was used to finance the establishment of Albarka Airlines under a shabby loan arrangement which no repayment has been made to date." the EFCC reports concluded.
Saharareporters was further informed that Mr Raj Arjandras BHOJWANI is currently being prosecuted by the Jersey authorities for money laundering in relation to the Tata contract and the various funds channelled through his account by Alhaji Marwa.
Raj Arjandas Bhojwani, a native of India, was charged in Jersey with the laundering of US$43.9 million [about £22.5 million] after he was arrested in London on 8 February 2007 and taken to Jersey the next day. He appeared in the Royal Court, Jersey and reserved his plea to three charges relating to the laundering of the money, which is alleged to be the proceeds of government corruption in Nigeria relating to Marwa. The money laundering case against Bhojwani is alleged to have taken place in October 2000.
Ironically While Bhojwani faced possible jail time in Jersey, Alhaji Marwa was recently nominated to become Nigeria's ambassador to a yet -to-be-named country, his confirmation by the Nigerian senate is almost complete and recently he bragged in the media that his airline-AlBarka Airlines-will soon resume operations.
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