fesfen28: I will say this again and again, no white man can claim to be a saint in Nigeria, because they do worst things, if they are saying ibori is a thief, which role did their country pay in making the robbery successful? How much is the budget of Delta state for the 8 years he ruled? Does that mean the man did not pay salary or construct any road or building in the state for this period? Did the UK court jailed him for money laundry or money he stole from Delta? Most of the white business men in Nigeria are all thieves causing religious and ethnic crises everywhere. It is because we are not serious with the fight against corruption that's why British citizen are going free, most of them are very very corrupt. The Lebanese who owns wonderland in abuja will tell the whole world they are helping Nigeria until they were caught with ammunitions. UK should come and tell us who buys these stolen crude oil, who sells these property to Nigerians there? We help to develop their economy. Yet they treat us as dirts. My submission, UK is corrupt. It takes two to tangle

There may be corrupt people in the UK but the Uk is not corrupt. Most white men in Nigeria have a skeleton in their cupboard but majority of white people are decent when compared to our people. I'm saying this based on years living in different countries.

BTW its "Tango" not "tangle". anyway not your fault, some black man embezzled the funds that were meant for giving you a good education.

Looting in Nigeria's is akin to a synchronised network of pen robbers extending beyond tribes, party lines et al. (Meanwhile the stupidos eke out their futile tribalism here on NL day and night fighting for masters feeding them worse than crumbs from the table)

Jonathan's suspicious $8 million dollars asset declaration as Vice President (...even had the impunity to shun public declaration of his wealth as President)Tinunbu's meteorically found wealth to Ibori's largese.

Yet, some would come Nairaland and defend these bunch of charlatans and cradle robbers. On evaluation, it is quite clear most of y'all suffer from 'Stockholm Syndrome'

jay bee: UK Newspaper Detail How Oando Made Its Whopping Quarterly N3.1 Billion Profit By Dodging Taxes

This week, Oando Plc, the so-called “highly successful” oil trading company owned by Governor Bola Tinubu's cousin, Wale Tinubu, declared a massive quarterly profit of N3.1billion, an “achievement” that was advertised in Nigerian newspapers. This would be a significant achievement for any company, except that the success of Oando hinges on a clever policy of dodging taxes.
In stories published by Private Eye, a United Kingdom newspaper, it has been explained how Oando is taking advantage of the Department for International Development, through its development fund CDC (formerly the Commonwealth Development Corporation).

The following, according to Private Eye, is how it is done:

Oando attracts foreign capital flow from an American private equity fund known as "Emerging Capital Partners" based in Washington DC, which in turn receives funds from the UK government through the CDC Group, Oando a privatized Nigerian oil company is known and called Oando plc. But to avoid paying taxes to the Nigerian government Oando carries out its investment partnerships through an offshore company known as "Ocean and Oil Mauritius", itself owned by a British Virgin Islands vehicle called "Ocean and Oil Holdings (BVI) Limited " whose well-connected investors bought their 34 percent stake in Oando from the Nigerian government in year 2000.

It has been established from investigations carried out by the UK Metropolitan police that James Ibori and his schoolmate, Henry Imashekka, sent funds stolen from the sale of shares owned by the Delta State government to an offshore account, they later invested $10 million that were stolen in acquiring Notore Chemicals (formerly NAFCON).

CDC and its privileged offshore co-investors in Oando earn “technical fees” of 5 percent of profits and “management fees” of 4 percent through a Nigerian company called Ocean and Oil Investments, giving them a significantly better return than standard Oando plc shareholders. In 2008, the last year for which figures are known, $8.5m was paid by Oando in this way, signed off by Oando’s auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Of Oando’s $91m remaining profits after these fees have been creamed off, $21m was earned by a company called Oando Trading Ltd, which boasts of being “Africa’s largest independent and privately owned oil trading company”. Except it is registered in the not-so-African tax haven of Bermuda. Unsurprisingly, the UK Private Eye’s efforts to locate some actual oil trading by Oando in Bermuda were fruitless: the contact number in Hamilton turns out to be the firm’s old administrators, called Appleby, while its new ones, the Harbour Group, could not connect the Eye to anybody with anything to do with Oando.

This is of course, a crude arrangement to avoid more than $7m a year in tax – which would provide quite a few schools or hospitals in Nigeria where the company really operates through offices in Abuja and Lagos. The scheme would not work if Oando were based in a developed economy such as the UK, where tax rules prevent the more blatant scams to stuff profits into tax havens, but poorer countries such as Nigeria are more vulnerable.

SEEDY CDC

METROPOLITAN Police charges naming a prominent Nigerian businessman, which can be revealed following the easing of reporting restrictions on a trial scheduled for later this year, pose more questions about Britain’s international development fund CDC formerly the Commonwealth Development Corporation, and its attempts to maximise profits by entrusting taxpayer’s money to questionable private equity firms.

One of the charges arising from Knacker’s long-running investigation into money laundering involving Nigeria is that a group of businessmen including Henry Imasekha “concealed, disguised, converted and transferred criminal property, namely the sum of $10m ... knowing or suspecting that the sum constituted the benefit from criminal conduct of another person ...”

Henry Imasekha, it so happens, is a major shareholder and director of one of CDC’s main Nigerian investments, privatised fertilizer company Notore. CDC invested in the company in 2007 through American private equity fund manager Emerging Capital Partners, which also invested CDC’s money in a couple of other large Nigerian businesses, including privatised oil company Oando, which does a nice line in tax avoidance.

CDC: Haven help us

TAX avoidance, explained Treasury minister Stephen Timms to a Paris conference recently, “costs developing countries billions each year in lost revenue – a major drain on often fragile economies and a genuine barrier to economic growth. These are vital resources for schools, hospitals and infrastructure”.

Perhaps he should explain this to the Department for International Development, which is busily fleecing fragile economies by sponsoring corporate tax avoidance at its development fund CDC, formerly the Commonwealth Development Corporation.

Through American private equity fund Emerging Capital Partners, CDC funds a privatized Nigerian oil company called Oando plc. But it doesn’t do this directly since this might mean it and its co-investors would have to pay some tax. Instead, it invests through a mysterious company called ocean and oil Mauritius, itself owned by a British Virgin Islands vehicle called Ocean and Oil Holdings (BVI) Limited whose well-connected investors bought their 34 percent stake in Oando from the Nigerian government in 2000.

Tax avoidance among CDC’s companies is unsurprising since the fund has modelled itself as a private equity investor, a structure in which tax dodging has always been an intrinsic part. But that doesn’t make the British development fund’s indulgence in the shady business any less damaging for poor countries like Nigeria.


http://saharareporters.com/news-page/uk-newspaper-detail-how-oando-made-its-whopping-quarterly-n31-billion-profit-dodging-taxes?page=1

This is one of biggest tax fraud in recent times, and they say oando is the most effective run company. Thank. God for the brits investigators, this shows the level of dishonesty of our so called billionaires, only in Nigeria. I keep on saying it, integrity in buisness is still the ultimate.

In this country,steal N100,000..u're a thief,steal $100m. u're a Don

gokelicious: Point 1. Tinubu and ibori are not from the same tribe, so that has been addressed. Point 2. Only you and your kind are linking tinubu to the crime bcoz if read the article you would have noticed that the prosecuting lawyer did not link tinubu to it. Point 3. There is something called plc and that is what oando is. Point 4. Ibori might have bought the shares through a proxy. Please, don't blame tinubu for everything that goes wrong in Nigeria.

..why do you bother educating people that have no capacity for it....HSBC was caught pants down laudering mexican cartel money and nothing came of it but a review of their process and barely a slap on the wrist....my point?...companies are not your enforcement agencies ...

Oando is run by barons default ocean and oil

Yeaaaaaa, Shame on them...... lawlessness is more dangerous than cancer.

BabaAlabi: £200 million...Money meant for the development of Delta State in one man's account and it is England that's helping us prosecute the fat bloated criminal.
Shame on E.F.C.C
Shame on Nigeria's Judiciary.
Shame on Goodluck Jonathan.

Thunder fire everybody that has ignored to comment on the topic of the thread but rather decided to abuse GEJ

Myopic ethnic bigots,always blinded ethnic bias

That said,I'm not surprised by this news.Infact I will be surprised the day Tinubu's name is mentioned for something noble,as for his numerous ignoble acts bothering on drug use and trafficking,certicate forgery,murder,treasury looting,election rigging,tax evasion,bribing of electoral tribunal and appeal court judges etc etc,I truly am not surprised

jay bee: UK Newspaper Detail How Oando Made Its Whopping Quarterly N3.1 Billion Profit By Dodging Taxes

This week, Oando Plc, the so-called “highly successful” oil trading company owned by Governor Bola Tinubu's cousin, Wale Tinubu, declared a massive quarterly profit of N3.1billion, an “achievement” that was advertised in Nigerian newspapers. This would be a significant achievement for any company, except that the success of Oando hinges on a clever policy of dodging taxes.
In stories published by Private Eye, a United Kingdom newspaper, it has been explained how Oando is taking advantage of the Department for International Development, through its development fund CDC (formerly the Commonwealth Development Corporation).

The following, according to Private Eye, is how it is done:

Oando attracts foreign capital flow from an American private equity fund known as "Emerging Capital Partners" based in Washington DC, which in turn receives funds from the UK government through the CDC Group, Oando a privatized Nigerian oil company is known and called Oando plc. But to avoid paying taxes to the Nigerian government Oando carries out its investment partnerships through an offshore company known as "Ocean and Oil Mauritius", itself owned by a British Virgin Islands vehicle called "Ocean and Oil Holdings (BVI) Limited " whose well-connected investors bought their 34 percent stake in Oando from the Nigerian government in year 2000.

It has been established from investigations carried out by the UK Metropolitan police that James Ibori and his schoolmate, Henry Imashekka, sent funds stolen from the sale of shares owned by the Delta State government to an offshore account, they later invested $10 million that were stolen in acquiring Notore Chemicals (formerly NAFCON).

CDC and its privileged offshore co-investors in Oando earn “technical fees” of 5 percent of profits and “management fees” of 4 percent through a Nigerian company called Ocean and Oil Investments, giving them a significantly better return than standard Oando plc shareholders. In 2008, the last year for which figures are known, $8.5m was paid by Oando in this way, signed off by Oando’s auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Of Oando’s $91m remaining profits after these fees have been creamed off, $21m was earned by a company called Oando Trading Ltd, which boasts of being “Africa’s largest independent and privately owned oil trading company”. Except it is registered in the not-so-African tax haven of Bermuda. Unsurprisingly, the UK Private Eye’s efforts to locate some actual oil trading by Oando in Bermuda were fruitless: the contact number in Hamilton turns out to be the firm’s old administrators, called Appleby, while its new ones, the Harbour Group, could not connect the Eye to anybody with anything to do with Oando.

This is of course, a crude arrangement to avoid more than $7m a year in tax – which would provide quite a few schools or hospitals in Nigeria where the company really operates through offices in Abuja and Lagos. The scheme would not work if Oando were based in a developed economy such as the UK, where tax rules prevent the more blatant scams to stuff profits into tax havens, but poorer countries such as Nigeria are more vulnerable.

SEEDY CDC

METROPOLITAN Police charges naming a prominent Nigerian businessman, which can be revealed following the easing of reporting restrictions on a trial scheduled for later this year, pose more questions about Britain’s international development fund CDC formerly the Commonwealth Development Corporation, and its attempts to maximise profits by entrusting taxpayer’s money to questionable private equity firms.

One of the charges arising from Knacker’s long-running investigation into money laundering involving Nigeria is that a group of businessmen including Henry Imasekha “concealed, disguised, converted and transferred criminal property, namely the sum of $10m ... knowing or suspecting that the sum constituted the benefit from criminal conduct of another person ...”

Henry Imasekha, it so happens, is a major shareholder and director of one of CDC’s main Nigerian investments, privatised fertilizer company Notore. CDC invested in the company in 2007 through American private equity fund manager Emerging Capital Partners, which also invested CDC’s money in a couple of other large Nigerian businesses, including privatised oil company Oando, which does a nice line in tax avoidance.

CDC: Haven help us

TAX avoidance, explained Treasury minister Stephen Timms to a Paris conference recently, “costs developing countries billions each year in lost revenue – a major drain on often fragile economies and a genuine barrier to economic growth. These are vital resources for schools, hospitals and infrastructure”.

Perhaps he should explain this to the Department for International Development, which is busily fleecing fragile economies by sponsoring corporate tax avoidance at its development fund CDC, formerly the Commonwealth Development Corporation.

Through American private equity fund Emerging Capital Partners, CDC funds a privatized Nigerian oil company called Oando plc. But it doesn’t do this directly since this might mean it and its co-investors would have to pay some tax. Instead, it invests through a mysterious company called ocean and oil Mauritius, itself owned by a British Virgin Islands vehicle called Ocean and Oil Holdings (BVI) Limited whose well-connected investors bought their 34 percent stake in Oando from the Nigerian government in 2000.

Tax avoidance among CDC’s companies is unsurprising since the fund has modelled itself as a private equity investor, a structure in which tax dodging has always been an intrinsic part. But that doesn’t make the British development fund’s indulgence in the shady business any less damaging for poor countries like Nigeria.


http://saharareporters.com/news-page/uk-newspaper-detail-how-oando-made-its-whopping-quarterly-n31-billion-profit-dodging-taxes?page=1

GBAM! The secrets are beginning to come out! Hahahahahaha... I have known some of some of these things for years but I just shut my mouth because I no want wahala at my old job. This isn't even a quarter of the sordidness that permeates Oando. That entire company is a giant mess of illegal deals, money laundering and falsified books.

We want OUR MONEY back. Period. Delta state govt must demand all the stolen money back. Jailing any of these thieves is not enough. Assets recovery is the main punishment. Any body would gladly do 3 yrs i jail if he has billions of naira waiting for him on release.

Having said this, i DO NOT want Oando's business affected. The company is doing great for Nigeria. They are active in the electricity business with plans to go into refining petroleum. They are an asset to the country. Oando should not go down. But all stolen monies in the coy must be returned. Including that of Bola Tinubu.

braveheart2012:

GBAM! The secrets are beginning to come out! Hahahahahaha... [b][/b][b][/b]I have known some of some of these things for years but I just shut my mouth because I no want wahala at my old job. This isn't even a quarter of the sordidness that permeates Oando. That entire company is a giant mess of illegal deals, money laundering and falsified books.

@ braveheart2012 - I believe a thread should be opened on Oando PLC. Now that you're no longer in the company so no wahala can come your way now that you can open your mouth (I hope )

We have friends, family members, associates, etc. who have worked, working and hoping to work in this very controversial company & it's a public duty to tell all about this company.

Personally, I'm aware of the very high turnover rate of the company's staff; junior, middle & senior cadre including the management itself. Can you guess how many CFOs have passed through Oando within the past 5 years? Do you know the implication under due diligence? Why don't they stay? What did they see or didn't see that made them 'waka'?

And the Board of Directors? Can you point to a director who have stayed longer than 3 years? They and the top mgt staff have been shuffled and eased out since they all know where the bones are buried.

Hope a Mod can start the thread and you will be amazed at the shocking disclosures that would be made here. It's the least we can do for Naija being better and same can be applied to other funny companies or organisations that we find strange or controversial.

Peace!

khamas19:

..why do you bother educating people that have no capacity for it....HSBC was caught pants down laudering mexican cartel money and nothing came of it but a review of their process and barely a slap on the wrist....my point?...companies are not your enforcement agencies ...

my point exactly, merci.