I knew something was wrong, but now Soludo fully exposed

You don't work for OBJ and not be corrupt.

http://www.africafc.org/WhoWeAre.html

just looking at the web site, you know it 's 419

As a panel recently constituted to look into how Central Bank Governor Charles Soludo has managed the affairs of the African Finance Corporation winds down its assignment, several reliable sources have disclosed that Dr. Soludo has gone on a wild spree to bribe panelists. “Professor Soludo is determined not to lose his plum job at the helm of the Central Bank. He’s throwing money left and right to ensure that the panel overlooks his extensive malpractices in the AFC deals,” said one of the sources who is close to the investigation.

Saharareporters has learned that Soludo is using Tony Elumelu, the managing director of the United Bank of Africa and co-director of the scam-infested Africa Finance Corporation, to bribe panel members not to recommend anything negative against his person.
In fact, Soludo has gone as far as writing a draft recommendation for the panel on what it should do to save him. Part of his recommendation is that the panel should “not recommend the closure of the AFC.” Instead, he suggests that the probe panel strongly “recommend to Mr. President to restructure the leadership of the AFC, so as not to scare investors away from Nigeria."

He also suggested that the panel recommend the removal of the Managing Director of the AFC, Mr. Austine Ometoruwa, as well as his special advisor. He is said to be willing to sacrifice Mr. Ometoruwa who is to carry the blame for all the questionable decisions and management mishaps that brought the problem of the AFC to the fore.

But Soludo's shenanigans are not resolving the problems of the AFC, according to information from US government officials monitoring the AFC accounts with the UBA New York Branch. One of the sources told Saharareporters, while the UBA New York Branch may have returned the AFC money into an escrow account as requested by the Nigerian government, the branch may have dissipated the interests that accrued from the AFC deposits into the private accounts of individuals of interest.

Our sources indicate that, since appearing before the panel investigating the AFC investments, Soludo has not been able to return the interests or profits made from the AFC accounts at the UBA New York Branch. The two accounts of the AFC to which Soludo remitted AFC funds in November 2007 and March 2008 are account no. 68959001 and account no. 68959013 maintained with UBA New York Branch.

Soludo was also still unable to provide a retirement of account no. 0230449534013, an AFC's pre-operational Expenses Account maintained with the CBN Lagos branch. Soludo and Mr. Ometoruwa have admitted to spending $15 million in pre-operational expenses. The only visible part of the pre-operational account expenses was the refurbishment of a block of flats reportedly leased from Aliko Dangote, also a director of the AFC. Mr. Ometoruwa and Soludo claimed that they spent N6 billion to set up the AFC headquarters at Dangote's block of flats. Those privy to the renovations told Saharareporters that it could not have cost N25 million.

Instead of explaining the discrepancies, Soludo has contracted Mr. Dele Alake, a former editor of Concord newspapers and Bola Tinubu's Commissioner for Information and Strategy, to launch a propaganda war to save his job. His specific instruction is that the local media be conditioned to report that he was being hounded because he was Igbo and that some highly placed Northern hawks around Umaru Yar'adua wanted his job. The media onslaughts, which are in progress, have named Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi Yar'adua's Man Friday and "treasurer," as the person interested in replacing him.

Several staff members of the AFC however told Saharareporters that there was no formal account rendered on the cost of hiring media consultants, though the AFC was made to pay for their services. The staff audit shows that Mr. Alake and one Irish employee named "Mike" operating out of London as an "Executive Vice president" of AFC were receiving payments but were not listed anywhere either as staff or consultants to the company.

Soludo was also said to have bamboozled some presidency officials with figures and statistics about the potential for AFC to become an "African gigantic multilateral development bank" comparing it with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He promised that the AFC would have diplomatic immunity, tax exemption status and what he called "International Immunity." He even went a step further by paying AFC staff high tax-free salary, free car, housing, airplane tickets, free education, and even free lunch. But those familiar with the status of the AFC said it would be impossible for the corporation to acquire the legal and diplomatic identity that Soludo envisions since it is not a multi-government corporation like the African Development Bank.

"AFC was Charles Soludo's way of using Nigeria's wealth to create a Limited Liability Company for himself and his friends who he helped swallow up weak banks in the name of banking consolidation," volunteered a former CBN board member familiar with the idea of the AFC.

As Saharareporters investigations revealed, Soludo actually "created" the money he invested in the AFC, according to CBN staffers, who spoke to us anonymously.

Soludo went out of his way to mint the equivalent of $500 million and transferred the monies into two accounts opened with the UBA in New York and a third account with the Citibank in London. He warehoused the rest of the money at the CBN vault in Lagos.

Through a pre-expense account operated at the Central Bank branch in Lagos, AFC's CEO and Managing Director, Ometoruwa, was spending money “as if it was water,” in the words of one staff member. Since assuming the role of CEO last year he has occupied a $1000-per-night suite at the Eko Hotel Le Meridien. Soludo also maintains a suite at the same hotel where he occasionally retires to change his striped custom-made suits while in the Lagos area. We could not confirm if Soludo's suite at Eko Le Meridien was paid for by the AFC or through some other sources.

One source told Saharareporters that “the operations of the AFC remain spasmodic.” He explained that “the entire corporation is run like a boy scout camp with a scout leader in Professor Soludo and Mr. Ometoruwa.”

Our investigations revealed that AFC does not have a chief risk officer, internal auditor, and human resource manager as would be the case with corporations of the size proposed by Soludo and his agents. Many of those hired to work at the AFC are members of the family and in-laws of directors of the AFC.

What the AFC does not have in internal structures and standard operating procedures it has in an effective ability to shuffle funds around. For example, $120 million was placed with the Dangote Group for no discernible reason. In addition to the wet lease of AFC headquarters from Dangote, another $100 million was paid to a Chinese company—WEMPCO—which then bought shares from the AFC with the money. A mysterious company known as "Gloria Investment” also "invested" $50 million into the AFC. $100 million was moved to an offshore account at the UBS in Hong Kong. The money was to make its way to a strange subsidiary of the AFC known as "AFC Asian Holdings" where Ometoruwa and Soludo are account signatories. A mining company, Costelor, was also established in Ghana as a subsidiary of the AFC.

Saharareporters has learned that, given the torrent of information it has received on the AFC scam, the investigating panel led by Tunde Ogunshakin, the former ICPC head of investigations, is expected to visit the UK and New York. “The goal is to do thorough fact-finding,” said a source close to the panel.

But another source told us that Soludo was set to use his considerable personal fortune to “shut down the investigation for good” and to ensure that the panel would recommend “only cosmetic reforms in the AFC and that it is business as usual.”

Stale news!

It looks like some power packed high profile criminals that have looted countries wealth around the world for decades. There were this real life incidents compiled into a book here in America titled "Defrauding America" reading this thread, you can just see their hands all over it. Not until Nigeria has some reformation like Ghana's would stories like this one ever end. I strongly believe that sooner or later it's going to happen just a matter of when I hope it won't be long.

Soludo's AFC criminal activity cost UBA $15mil in FINE. UBA(Elumeu) paid quickly without any questions because they know the can of worms that would open.

Only uninformed Nigerians can be deceived. EFCC alone should have picked this case, why Nigerian Bank fined $15mil and they paid without questioning.

landis:

Soludo's AFC criminal activity cost UBA $15mil in FINE. UBA(Elumeu) paid quickly without any questions because they know the can of worms that would open.

Only uninformed Nigerians can be deceived. EFCC alone should have picked this case, why Nigerian Bank fined $15mil and they paid without questioning.

Very true @ landis


AFC: Soludo Spent $17m As Pre- Operational Expenses

From: SULE AMUDA Abuja


http://www.nationalmirroronline.com/cove/article02

The probe panel inaugurated by the federal government to investigate the whopping $462 million investment by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), has revealed that Professor Charles Soludo, the embattled governor of the apex bank spent $17 million as pre-operational expenses to mid-wife AFC before commencement.

According to the highlights of report of the panel headed by the director of operations of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, the said amount was allegedly spent on consultancies and travelings.


The report also stated that Soludo transferred to foreign accounts of AFC the sum of N750 million in November, 2007 and another N143 million in March, 2008.

It also frowned at the decision of Soludo to have accepted to be the Chairman of AFC in his personal capacity, noting that this is a clear violation of Section 9 of CBN Act 2007 which disqualify principal officers of the CBN from holding any office by virtue of their respective offices.

why we too like to demonize people for this nigeria sef? soludo has positives than negetives for this country.lets just block the loophole that allow people to be corrupt in this country than waiting to let them steal first then start demonising them.with all the crooks we caught in recent years the life of the average nigerian(i hate this term) has not be bettered

why we too like to demonize people for this nigeria sef? soludo has positives than negetives for this country

So because someone has done something positive, we should just ignore their negatives ? A man spent
$17 million dollars as pre-operational expenses for the AFC and you expect people to sweep it under the carpet ?

A thief is a thief abeg. Doing something positive is not an excuse to steal government's money.

chukwuma soludo means well for nigeria's economy but he also has some skeleton in the cupboard. That guy goes about doing  things without taking due process. Should he leave office for whatever reason, he'll have a question or two to answer.

How about fucking shooting looters, thieving politicians, greedy government staff and corrupt ex-helmsmen AT CLOSE RANGE IN THE HEAD?!

dee02:

How about fucking shooting looters, thieving politicians, greedy government staff and corrupt ex-helmsmen AT CLOSE RANGE IN THE HEAD?!

Good idea but we need to re-cover the loot from them and throw them to prison so not so brillant idea.

landis:

Good idea but we need to re-cover the loot from them and throw them to prison so not so brillant idea.

Perhaps we can recover the loot from them,prison is not enough so setting them ablaze or bombing them into extinction is ideal!!

How reliable are these NewsPapers? I mean this Sahara Reporters, how reliable is that news press Are there other reports in other papers, Like the Daily Times, The Vanguard or even The Guardian to back up this claim

Kobojunkie:

How reliable are these NewsPapers? I mean this Sahara Reporters, how reliable is that news press Are there other reports in other papers, Like the Daily Times, The Vanguard or even The Guardian to back up this claim

Sahara news has always been reputable and it is one of the only source i can vouch for

The duo of saharareporters are veterans, i dont know them personally but i can say, their reports are 99% authentic

One of them used to be at Elendureports.com (omoyele sowore) a while back before he left

They usually break the news so i believe it is a matter of time before we start getting snippets in order common newspapers

Even if soludo is a thief at leaast he is working and has redefined the nigerian banking sector,

Which person in government is not a thief anyway? it is just a thing of magnitude-do you steal 7 million naira or 7 million pounds?

vicade:

Even if soludo is a thief at leaast he is working and has redefined the nigerian banking sector,

Which person in government is not a thief anyway? it is just a thing of magnitude-do you steal 7 million naira or 7 million pounds?

Why not demand no thiefs at all?? I mean is this THE ONLY WAY for us?

Kobojunkie:

How reliable are these NewsPapers? I mean this Sahara Reporters, how reliable is that news press Are there other reports in other papers, Like the Daily Times, The Vanguard or even The Guardian to back up this claim

if you see the screen attached, UBA was fine $15mil by US-Govt.

why did they pay without any questioning? This N1.7billion naira.

Nobody pays this amount without questioning unless you know you are guilty and quickly want to settle the matter before it spreads.

Sahara reporters broke this before news filter to Nigeria. Soludo is siphoning our money with his Bogus AFC.

How is Soludo UBA then

Kobojunkie:

How is Soludo UBA then

the specific account belong to AFC and transfer was made Soludo on behalf from CBN.

OCC investigators found that the AFC maintains two accounts with the UBA New York Branch and had transferred over $300 million through the UBA New York Branch in November 2007 and March 2008. The UBA declined to report the transactions as suspicious claiming that the AFC accounts were legitimate, a fact that has been denied by the Federal government of Nigeria who already requested help from US authorities to trace the movement of the AFC funds from Charles Soludo’s AFC.

-->

United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has suspended the United Bank for Africa, UBA from all wire transfers. The suspension takes effect from March 2008.

The report did not say Prof. Charles Soludo looted any money rather he paid the money to some certain places etc. Let us wait and see if he will clear himself. He might have his genuine reasons.

seeu:

The report did not say Prof. Charles Soludo looted any money rather he paid the money to some certain places etc. Let us wait and see if he will clear himself. He might have his genuine reasons.

clever.

Abacha did not loot any money, he just paid them to certain places.

IBB did not loot any money, he just paid them to certain places

OBJ did not loot any money, he just paid them to cerian places



I love Nigeria

landis:

clever.

Abacha did not loot any money, he just paid them to certain places.

IBB did not loot any money, he just paid them to certain places

OBJ did not loot any money, he just paid them to cerian places



I love Nigeria

Very soon Yar ' Adua would be also paying some lump to certain places and there would be people in place to defend him.

Forgive my asking , how can one spend $17 million dollars on consultancy and travelling expenses. Was he going to the Moon? Maybe its because I am a poor guy, but sometimes the amount of money being droppoed by these officials makes me wanna go bonkers.

See, I dont care if U have ur positives or negatives. If U are a thief , U are a thief and should be treated as such. I dont care what positives Soludo brought. It is part of the job as a CBN governor. He did not do it for free. He was paid for doing his job. However, his job does not include looting the Federal Govt of Nigeria.


_{Hoping that the source of this piece of News is not suspect.}

Crucify him, crucify him. If he is a thief, why is he still there? Other thieves have been sacked, so if Soludo is indeed a thief, why is he still at the CBN?

The investigation was still on when Sahara reporters and others ''convicted'' Soludo. We will wait and see

I still find this hard to believe. Not that I am saying this man is incapable of doing such but to accept that after all we have seen in that country, another person would come in to do exactly the same is just ridiculous and just sign that there might be no hope. I say the government gets to the bottom of this and expose what really happened.

Kobojunkie:

I still find this hard to believe. Not that I am saying this man is incapable of doing such

[b]but to accept that after all we have seen in that country, another person would come in to do exactly the same is just ridiculous [/b]and just sign that there might be no hope. I say the government gets to the bottom of this and expose what really happened.

What is ridiculous about it ? All this AFC affair took place last year before Yar'Adua took office and they are looking
into it just as they are looking into other areas.

You can be in denial all you want, it doesn't change the facts.

a lot of persons just label other people crooks so they can boot them out from the office they are occupying and get into it or put their own man. soludo have greatly improved the nigerian economy and the afc is a brilliant and intelligent idea if we give it a chance.i remeber when soludo started consolidation some people said it was political,some said it was going to kill the banks and make people jobless.now after consolidation the banks have employed over 60,000 fresh graduate,nigerian bank are into telecoms e.g visafone,into merger aircraft finance e.g uba,intercontinental,union bank financing airlines like aero and arik air. after all this man has done concretly,so people bring so accussation that are not yet confirmed and you are crucifing him with that proper probe based on saharareport info.na wa oh.

maxell:

What is ridiculous about it ? All this AFC affair took place last year before Yar'Adua took office and they are looking
into it just as they are looking into other areas.
You can be in denial all you want, it doesn't change the facts.

Because I refuse to accept what I read from just one newspaper and source means I am in denial?? I never mentioned Yar adua being in office or not to be reason for my accepting or rejecting the news. I choose to wait to see what comes of this instead of jumping on the band wagon that claims this is fact without really understanding what really went on behind closed doors. The report does not in any way directly implicate Soludo but all the assumptions are all good and well. However, I would prefer personally to wait and see what comes of this to throw stones.

maxwell i believe by 2015 or so you also be demonizing st yardua

i think we should focus less on people in this country and more on the structure that is corrupted and bleed a lot of cash into nothing.

superboi:

a lot of persons just label other people crooks so they can boot them out from the office they are occupying and get into it or put their own man. soludo have greatly improved the nigerian economy and the afc is a brilliant and intelligent idea if we give it a chance.i remeber when soludo started consolidation some people said it was political,some said it was going to kill the banks and make people jobless.now after consolidation the banks have employed over 60,000 fresh graduate,nigerian bank are into telecoms e.g visafone,into merger aircraft finance e.g uba,intercontinental,union bank financing airlines like aero and arik air. after all this man has done concretly,so people bring so accussation that are not yet confirmed and you are crucifing him with that proper probe based on saharareport info.na wa oh.

superboi:

i think we should focus less on people in this country and more on the structure that is corrupted and bleed a lot of cash into nothing.

So because Soludo started consolidation makes it okay for him to spend $17 million dollars on AFC pre-operational expenses ?
We cannot sweep this under the carpet ? A thief is a thief abeg.

Kobojunkie:

Because I refuse to accept what I read from just one newspaper and source means I am in denial??

Stop being in denial. Other news agencies carried the story

http://uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUKN2848804720080428

Soludo illegally deposited millions of dollars in UBA's New York branch and the US authorities
fined UBA $15 million dollars for it. UBA quickly paid the fine without any petitioning because
of of his involvement

Soludo: More petitions flood presidency
20.04.2008


This is not the best of times for members of cabinet in the past civilian administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, following signals that the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Charles Soludo is under probe.


Already, the Federal Government had set up a panel to probe the withdrawal of $480 million from the CBN for the purchase of African Finance Corporation (AFC) and the manner the corporation was being run.

Sunday Tribune learnt from top Presidential Villa sources that he may be probed based on the litany of petitions written against him said to have been urging the federal government to investigate the manner Soludo had been running the affairs of the CBN.

Some of the petitions said to be in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) were said to have also asked the government to beam a searchlight on the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Limited with a view to asking the CBN governor why the company had not been able to print naira notes since he assumed office.

Others were said to have sought clarification from Soludo on why Nigeria was patronizing a particular foreign based Company for contracts on the Printing of new naira notes. He was equally accused in some of the petitions of personalizing issues about the CBN.

Some of the petitioners, according to sources, had queried the rationale behind the decision by the government to rehabilitate the Security, Minting and Printing Company with huge sums of money contending that both Soludo and the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Irene Chigbue worked hand in hand on the rehabilitation project.


The excuse said to have been adduced for the rehabilitation of the Company was that such would make it suitable for the privatisation by the federal government, whereas the company has never been able to function optimally after being rehabilitated.

In all, some petitioners were said to have urged the ICPC to count on the current Minister of Finance, Shamshudeen Usman to assist in obtaining relevant information on how Soludo has been running the CBN since he was the second in command at the bank before becoming a minister.

Sunday Tribune learnt that President Yar’Adua had been shown some of the petitions which were said to have constituted a file load, and had reportedly expressed shock on the issues raised in each of the petitions.


The president, according to sources, had expressed indignation on the issues in the petitions and had hence directed a full scale probe of the allegations raised against the CBN governor.


There have been series of investigations into the activities of the past civilian government headed by former president Olusegun Obasanjo. The first to be initiated was that on power sector being anchored by the House of Representatives while the Senate too has started the probe of sales, allocations and revocations of landed and housing properties during the tenure of the past civilian regime.

maybe you no understand nija so sources in aso rock have to kick out people like soludo that have done thing we have seen so by the time they do nothing we cant point to soludo and tell them at least that guy did something.and a piece of advice it better to believe what you can see and feel than what the press tell you,because they can always retract their statement and eat their words