Seven London properties are connected to Ms Oduah - one in her name, two through her Nigerian-incorporated firm, and four secretly through her Seychelles offshore company.

Taiwo AdebayoByTaiwo Adebayo October 6, 2021 6 min read

As a minister between 2011 and 2014 when she was accused of corruption and sacked from the federal cabinet, Stella Oduah, now a senator, secretly acquired four London properties, hiding behind an anonymous company she tucked away offshore and possibly committing a breach of Nigeria’s public service code of conduct law, the ongoing Pandora Papers investigation has found.

While different courts have ordered the freezing of assets linked to Ms Oduah in Nigeria over her “humongous” indebtedness to banks, the four anonymously acquired London properties – alongside one other bought in her own name and two others bought in the name of her Nigerian-registered company – remain owned by her. The assets are blocked from debt recovery efforts by banks and the Assets Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON.

International Trading and Logistics Company Limited, ITCL, was incorporated in Seychelles, a commonly used secrecy and tax haven, with Ms Oduah as the ultimate beneficial owner, leaked incorporation documents showed.

Ms Oduah then used the company to acquire the four London properties worth a total of 6.7 million pounds between October 2012 and August 2013. At today’s naira value, that amounts to approximately N5.2billion at the black market rate of N775 to a pound sterling. If the official Central Bank of Nigeria rate of N558 naira to a pound is used, the amount would translate to approximately N3.74billion.

As we understand, anonymous acquisitions would ensure she circumvented due diligence checks in the UK about the sources of her funds as a politically exposed person. Also, anonymity, that is, hiding behind her secret Seychelles-incorporated company, meant she could avoid possible investigation and prosecution in Nigeria for owning undeclared assets or acquiring as a public servant any assets not attributable to legitimate income.

These findings were based on leaked records obtained from PREMIUM TIMES’ collaboration with UK-based Finance Uncovered within the larger Pandora Papers Investigation coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, ICIJ.

According to the UK Land Registry records, ITCL bought on October 19, 2012, a house at 23 St Edmunds Terrace, London NW8 7QA for 5.3 million pounds. Then, in the following year, 2013, between August 6 and 15, the following three more properties were bought in the name of ITCL:

– Flat 2, 7 Devonshire Terrace, London (W2 3DN)

Bought: on or around 06/08/2013

Price paid: £378,000.

–Top Floor Flat, 89 Brondesbury Villas, London (NW6 6AG)

Bought: on or around 12/08/2013

Price paid: £369,000.

– Fourth Floor Flat, 19 Warrington Crescent, London (W9 1ED)

Bought: on or around 15/08/2013

Price paid: £680,000.

Records show that none of the four properties was bought with mortgage financing, meaning Ms Oduah secretly routed 6.7 million pounds through her offshore company to anonymously effect the acquisitions.

Ms Oduah’s houses are among the 234 U.K. properties our collaborative investigation showed were anonymously acquired by offshore companies, with Nigerians as ultimate beneficial owners. The investigation exposed the hidden identities of the true owners of the properties bought in the so-called envelope structure that offers confidentiality benefits, which in the case of Nigeria public servants like Ms Oduah, mean a way of blocking the Code of Conduct Bureau from knowing undeclared assets.

By law, public servants in Nigeria are required to declare their assets and are forbidden from holding directorship of any company except the interest is in agriculture. In addition, any asset acquired after the declaration of assets must be “fairly attributable” to legitimate income, failing which, such acquisition is deemed to be in breach of the law.

It remained unclear how Ms Oduah raised the funds to purchase the properties. As she did not respond to our enquiry, it remained unclear if she declared some or all of the properties and the offshore company ITCL to the Code of Conduct of Bureau (CCB).

We however saw evidence that retained her directorship of the company while holding public office, thereby breaking the law.

We sent Ms Oduah a written request for comment. For weeks, she failed to explain her acquisition of the properties and provide evidence that she declared them in her Code of Conduct fillings, in accordance with the law. She also declined to provide clarity on why she continued to run her offshore company as a director while a public office holder in Nigeria, in violation of the law.

Ms Oduah was removed from office on February 12, 2014, as Nigeria’s aviation minister after she was indicted by two panels, which probed the purchase of two bullet-proof cars by an agency under her supervision, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, for N255 million in violation of Nigeria’s public procurement and appropriation laws.

In December 2020, Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, EFCC, filed at an Abuja division of the Federal High Court 25 charges, accusing Ms Oduah, alongside Chinese construction giant, CCECC, of conspiracy, possession of proceeds of corruption, fraudulent transactions, and laundering of funds totalling N5,052,415,984 between February and June 2014.

In July 2021, Inyang Ekwo, the Abuja court trial judge, threatened to issue a warrant for the arrest of Ms Oduah, over her failure to appear in court for the corruption trial.

In a rather dramatic twist, barely a month after the judge’s threat, Ms Oduah cross-carpeted from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), saying she defected in the interest of the people of her native Anambra State.

In Nigeria, it is common for opposition politicians facing corruption trials or investigations to defect to the ruling party with the expectation that could save them from further troubles.

Before her acquisition of the above four properties, Ms Oduah had bought in her own name, on March 8, 2006, Apartment 209, Cavendish House, 31 Monck Street, London SW1P 2AS for 700 thousand pounds, Land Registry record shows.

Ms Oduah worked with the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, a subsidiary of the state-owned NNPC, for seven years before starting her own business, Sea Petroleum and Gas Company Limited (SPGCL), based in Lagos. She also owns International Trading and Logistics Company Limited, exactly the same name as the company she anonymously incorporated in Seychelles. She was elected senator in 2019, representing Anambra North District.

On September 14, 2012, about one month before the purchase of the 5.3 million pounds Edmund Terrace property, SPGCL wired $71,973 bank transfer to Daniel Ford & Co., a UK property agency commonly used by Nigerian business and political elites investing in the UK property market anonymously, according to a leaked suspicious activity report submitted by Deutsche Bank to the U.S. financial intelligence agency FinCEN.

Deutsche Bank had helped facilitate the U.S. dollar transfer, acting as a correspondent bank. Reporting that Ms Oduah is the owner of SPGCL in its suspicious activity report, Deutsche Bank said it suspected the payment to Daniel Ford was money laundering.

Meanwhile, as she used ITCL Seychelles, she also invested in the UK property market through ITCL Nigeria, also while serving as minister. On July 12, 2011, just days after her assumption of office as aviation minister, she used ITCL Nigeria to buy Flats 303 and 306 Grant House, 90 Liberty Street, London SW9 0BZ for 475 thousand pounds each.

Thus, a total of seven London properties are connected to Ms Oduah – one in her name in 2006, two through her Nigerian-incorporated ITCL in 2011, and four secretly through her Seychelles offshore ITCL between 2012 and 2013 – according to records from the UK Land Registry and leaked offshore documents – which helped expose her as the ultimate beneficial owner of the Seychelles company.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/488358-pandora-papers-how-stella-oduah-secretly-bought-n5billion-london-properties-with-cash.html

Usual suspect that her name continues to echoe in the corridors of curroption. Stealer Oduah when will you be mentioned in anything good apart from stealing? Now that she has joined APC she will automatically become a saint

Stella na Nigeria biggest female thief...

Enough of all this Rubbish from Pandora abi na Pancake self

See the way they are just calling money anyhow. N5bn cash?

Rabbish

I am curious as to how twitter will take this Pandora papers things seeing as Twitter has said they wont tolerate contents gotten from hacks on their platform.

Pandora, So Bala Mohammed, Peter Obi, Stella Oduah.

They still haven't told us anything we don't know yet. And these evidences are still not admissible in court

Damnnn niggarrrr
Too bad
Funny enough no investigation will be carried out
...
Make we rest for this country

The only prayer we should be praying make God elevate us make we also get chance to steal money like this

He shock una abi....but that is the obvious truth....nothing can be done about these politicians.....lets just pray for our own grace

We can now understand why she hurriedly left the PDP for the evil party.

Her sins will be swept under the he carpet

Stella was a billionaire before joining politics. She had her first UK house in the 1990s. In fact she has an oil servicing firm. I don't know what her crimes are exactly.
She might be corrupt and I am not holding brief for her but
Premium times being the only participating nigeria news outlet in this Pandora stuff has turned herself as a tool to witch hunt eastern politicians just same way no American businessman was mentioned in the saga despite America being the country with the highest offshore accounts.

I don't want to believe that the Lagos-ibadan brown envelop journalism want to discredit eastern politicians ahead of 2023 the way they packaged and transformed a failed coupist and tribalist to us in 2015.

I believe all thief should be made to face the law irrespective of their religion,tribe and political affiliating. But when journalism is one sided and aims to be mischievous and partial in order to please the tribe,religion and political affiliation of the journalist or her company. Then such journalist and her write up will not be taken serious by me and people of rational mind.

What is the difference between what the government is doing and what premium times is doing? Prosecuting criminals from other tribes but shielding criminals from your tribe.

Mr taiwo adebayo tell us your true motive

Am yet to see any leak document of any apc member

This people still dey loot as Naija economy don finish like this,no conscience..


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MOre secrets will still be out

Na buhari one go shock una

This Pandora box will expose all the shady dealings of our shady political leaders

APC saint.

I'm no supporter of corrupt persons especially politicians/public/civil servants.

I just hope all corrupt individuals in this country irrespective of political affiliate, status, ethnicity etcetera will be pandorarized.

Ok

fasho01:
This Pandora box will expose all the shady dealings of our shady political leaders

I can't wait

Illuminatiship:
Stella na Nigeria biggest female thief...

She's clean of all atrocities now that she has joined APC

Hahaha. Like Peter like Stella. Peter, the son of Obi is a fraud

PDP's government was too corrupt. If they are all running to APC thinking they will be shielded from EFCC then they are joking. Buhari is not one sided in the aspect of fighting corruption.

Mynd44:
I am curious as to how twitter will take this Pamdora papers things seeing as Twitter has said they want tolerate contents gotten from hacks on their platform.

Pandora, So Bala Mohammed, Peter Obi, Stella Oduah.

They still haven't told us anything we don't know yet. And these evidences are still not admissible in court

Stella and peter obi were ready billionaires before joining politics that I know
Stella as a big oil servicing company got her first UK home in the 1990s

Except this money linked to them are stolen money I don't see any crime here

What I'm after are politicians without business owning billions that's what we want to hear

Don't come tomorrow and say obiano has US properties he had them before becoming governor

If this money were moved from Nigeria then let's trace them if it's their money it's not wrong to be rich avioding tax is not tax evasion

Which one come be secretly acquired again...must everyone that buy property go to the print, social and electronic media to announce it like our olosho yeyebrities.

She should be prosecuted if proven the source of the money is illegal not this unnecessary sensationalism.

who has been in that fg level that has not bought billions of naira worth of properties

chai,, and she waik away just like that

E be things

These are the people that put us in this mess