UAE clamps former Nigerian Governor trying to transfer $517M loot

Authorities of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have blocked an attempt by a former Nigerian governor to transfer $517million out of the country to the Dominican Republic.

The yet to be identified former governor, who was desperately seeking to move the cash hit a brick wall as the money laundering laws in UAE are now strict, PM News reports.

Two weeks ago, report surfaced that a former Nigerian governor who is believed to have stashed $517million loot in Dubai was under close watch by the authorities.

EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu and UAE Ambassador to Nigeria, Mahmud Muhammad Al-Mahmud

One of the main focuses of the current administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari is recovering looted funds and that’s what they have been doing since assuming office on May 29.

During Buhari’s visit to Dubai in January, Nigeria had signed an agreement with the government of UAE, which includes the recovery and repatriation of stolen wealth.

A federal government team, comprising the minister of justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu and crack detectives from the anti-graft agency, are in Dubai to discuss recovering Nigerian funds stashed there.

They have already started comparing collated intelligence notes with their UAE counterparts.
Sources said the government delegation discovered that many highly-placed Nigerians, including a few ex-governors and money laundering fronts, have fled from Dubai to Singapore, Casablanca in Morocco, Dominican Republic and some islands in the UK and in the Caribbean.

Recall that Mallam Shehu Sani, the chairman of the Senate committee on Foreign and Domestic Debts, said as much as $200 billion of stolen funds from Nigeria may have been hidden in the UAE by past public officers and their agents/fronts.

Seven former governors, six former ministers and a fleeing presidential aide implicated in the $2.1billion arms deals, ex-military chiefs under probe, agents/fronts of some of these public officers and about five chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party have been accused of either stashing away funds or acquiring properties in Dubai.

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