ONE of the Presidential hopefuls on the platform of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the coming Presidential Primary of the party slated for January 13 in Abuja, former Vice President Alhaji Abubakar Atiku has been found to be an offender in the United States of America (US), and the information seems to have emanated at about the wrong time in what is now becoming a hotly pursuit Presidential Primary race between the ex-customs boss and the serving President, Dr, Goodluck Jonathan. The damning document is the final outcome of series of investigations and hearings carried out by the United States Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, headed by Senator Carl Levin, Chairman and Senator Tom Coburn, Ranking Minority Member. The aim of the investigation was, 'Keeping Foreign Corruption Out of the United States' and it was released last year February.

Unpalatable revelation
The case of Alhaji Abubakar Atiku was among four other case studies cited under, 'Foreign Corruption and Money Laundering'. His portion gulped a total of 69 pages and is entitled, 'Abubakar Case Study: Using Offshore Companies to Bring Suspect Funds into the United States'.
The trust of the indictment is that the popular politician fondly referred to as 'Turaki' funnelled approximately $40million to the US through his wife, Jennifer.
The finding revealed that Jennifer Douglas Abubakar, a U.S. citizen, is the fourth wife of Atiku Abubakar. The Committee examined how, from 2000 to 2008, Ms. Douglas helped her husband bring over $40 million in suspect funds into the United States, including at least $1.7 million in bribe payments from Siemens AG, a German corporation, and over $38 million from little known offshore corporations, primarily LetsGo Limited Inc., Guernsey Trust Company Nigeria Limited, and Sima Holding Limited.
The report showed that over half of the suspect funds, nearly $25 million, were wire transferred by the offshore corporations into U.S. bank accounts opened by Ms. Douglas. For most of the time period examined, the U.S. banks with those accounts were unaware of Ms. Douglas' PEP status, and allowed multiple large wire transfers into her accounts from the offshore corporations. As, over time, each of the banks began to question the wire transfers into her accounts, Ms. Douglas indicated that all of the funds came from her husband and professed little familiarity with the offshore corporations actually sending her money.
Bank records indicated that Ms. Douglas used most of the funds placed into her accounts to support a lavish lifestyle in the United States, paying credit card bills and household expenses in the range of $10,000 to $90,000 per month, including substantial legal and accounting bills. She also transferred funds to accounts she opened for the Gede Foundation, a nonprofit corporation she established in 2002, and the American University of Nigeria (AUN), a university that Abubakar founded in 2003, and whose name reflects its association with American University in the United States.
An additional $14 million of the suspect funds were wire transferred by two of the offshore corporations, LetsGo and the Guernsey Trust Company, to American University to pay for consulting fees related to AUN. American University officials told the Subcommittee that they understood the funds came from Abubakar and never inquired why the wire transfers were sent by unfamiliar offshore corporations. At least another $2.1 million was wire transferred by the Guernsey Trust Corporation to accounts controlled by Edward Weidenfeld, a U.S. lawyer who provided legal services to Ms. Douglas, Abubakar, and AUN. Mr. Weidenfeld explained that the funds paid for the Abubakars' legal expenses and an account set up for AUN, and that he had assumed the funds came from Abubakar.
The report noted that over the years, questions have been raised about the source of Abubakar's wealth. He spent twenty years in the Nigerian Customs Service, and then worked in the private sector for ten years, before serving as Vice President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007.

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Let the game start properly