The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) noted this in its report titled 'Politicians, Crooks and Fraudsters: Some Of Henley’s Most Controversial Caribbean Clients'.
A Nigerian businessman, Seun Ogunbambo is listed among 11 high net-worth individuals around the world to have purchased visas and passports under so-called “citizenship-by-investment” schemes
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) noted this in its report titled 'Politicians, Crooks and Fraudsters: Some Of Henley’s Most Controversial Caribbean Clients'.
OCCRP is a global network of independent media centers and investigative journalists exposing “crime and corruption so the public can hold power to account.”
One of the best-known firms brokering these passport sales is Henley & Partners, whose chairman Christian Kälin has been dubbed the “Passport King,” the report said.
Countries running such schemes allow people to sink hundreds of thousands of dollars into an investment, usually in real estate, in return for a visa or passport.
OCCRP’s investigation into Henley’s operations in the Caribbean, in collaboration with the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, has revealed a list of clients with backgrounds that could — and perhaps should — have raised red flags for their connections to financial crimes, sanctions-evasion, political power, or unexplained wealth.
OCCRP reports that Nigeria’s Seun Ogunbambo “was arrested in 2012 by Nigerian authorities in connection with an oil subsidy fraud and charged with conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretense, forgery, and use of false documents.”
“Documents suggest Ogunbambo’s St. Kitts and Nevis application was handled by Henley and approved in December 2011. He contributed $200,000 to the SIDF, and documents suggest he later purchased a property at Christophe Harbour,” the report says.
“Investigators also alleged that Ogunbambo had fraudulently obtained over 1.2 billion Nigerian naira (around $7.3 million) in a scam separate to the alleged oil subsidy fraud. He was twice denied bail in 2012, due in part to his multiple passports. He was eventually released, but by May 2014 a Nigerian judge had issued a warrant for him after he failed to appear before the court for his trial.
“A Nigerian newspaper reported in 2021 that authorities continued to seek Ogunbambo after he allegedly fled the country after skipping bail.”
Other indictees and politically exposed persons (PEPs) named in the report include Seyed Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad (Iran); Ruben Vardanyan (Russia); Ricardo Benjamin Salinas Pliego (Mexico); Sudheer Sriram (India); and Armen Sarkissian (Armenia).