The Channels Island government has seized money to the value of £211,000,000 in a Jersey bank account that allegedly belonged to former military dictator, General Sani Abacha.
According to a report on MetroNews, Abacha laundered the money through the US into the Channel Islands in Europe. The money was put in accounts held in Jersey by Doraville Properties Corporation, a British Virgin Islands company.
The money is now being held by the government until authorities in Jersey, the US and Nigeria come to an agreement on how it should be distributed.
Abacha was a military dictator who served as the de facto President of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998.
Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state of planning the inauguration of a new administration without consulting the government and inviting him to the event.
Obaseki’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lost in the Edo Governorship election held in September with the APC’s Monday Okpebholo beating Asue Ighodalo – the governor’s favoured candidate.
Days before the inauguration (set for November 12) of a new government, Obaseki claimed the APC was working without the involvement of his administration for the handover.
“We have a process in government, they stole our mandate, yes but we have laws, and there is a way things are done. We are inaugurating a new government in Edo State and the Edo State Government is not involved,” the governor said on Friday in Benin City during the inauguration of the caretaker committee of the PDP in the state on Friday.
“People behave as if there is no law, forgetting that we are guided by constitution and law; there are procedures to handle things. They are doing an inauguration and the governor is not even invited. It is like they are starting a brand new government and a brand new state.”
The First Lady Remi Tinubu has refuted claims that she is organising a national prayer over the country’s economic challenges.
Claims were making the rounds on several platforms that the First Lady in conjunction with others was planning a prayer session for the country.
But Busola Kukoyi, the spokesperson to the First Lady, has described the claims as not only misleading but also unfounded.
“This is to clarify and inform the general public that the First Lady of Nigeria, Her Excellency, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, CON is not organizing a National Prayer,” she said in a Saturday statement.
“The news making rounds in some conventional and social media platforms is unfounded and misleading. Consequently, anyone who might have come across the purported news of the joint National Prayer for Nigeria should disregard it as false.”
Warning people to verify the authenticity of news about her principal, Busola, however, said the First Lady understands the importance of praying for the country.
“Whilst the First Lady, a Christian and strong advocate of prayer and praying for Nigeria believes that prayer is an act that must be done willingly, conscientiously and correctly. She also believes that praying for Nigeria is the responsibility of every Nigerian, irrespective of religious belief, political affiliation, tribe or tongue,” the media aide added.
“Members of the public are advised to verify the authenticity of any news or event involving the First Lady of Nigeria or her Office through Official channels. Kindly be advised accordingly.”
Britain’s royal family is facing calls for more transparency and reform of their private estates after an investigation alleged they have been profiting from public bodies while benefiting from major tax exemptions.
The UK media probe also accused the estates of King Charles III and his eldest son Prince William of making big profits from charities and individual renters while in some cases failing to meet environmental standards.
The centuries-old estates — the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall — have made millions of pounds (dollars) from lucrative deals with the publicly-funded National Health Service (NHS) and other cash-strapped ministries, according to the investigation.
Both estates — portfolios of land, property and assets across England and Wales held in trust for the king and his heir — are exempt from paying UK corporation or capital gains taxes.
The extent of their holdings and commercial deals, such as lease agreements, is not publicly disclosed.
But the probe by UK television network Channel 4’s Dispatches programme and The Sunday Times claims to have uncovered them for the first time.
It has prompted calls for a review by parliament as well as demands by pro-republicans for the duchies to be abolished.
Norman Baker, a former lawmaker from the centrist Liberal Democrats party and longtime royal critic, told AFP the findings confirmed his view that the royals were “taking the public for a ride”.
“These are Crown lands which belong to the public… all that money should be going into the Crown Estate, which is a public asset,” he said.
– ‘Pursuing profit’ –
The royals have long maintained that profits from the duchies fund their public, charitable and private activities.
The duchies, owned by the monarchy since the Middle Ages, were not part of a 1760 agreement which sees the monarch’s Crown Estate profits surrendered to the government.
Fifteen percent of those profits are returned as a Sovereign Grant, which pays for official engagements, staff salaries and the royal palaces’ upkeep.
Next year the grant will total £132 million ($171 million).
Baker notes the vast private estates were not included in that arrangement because at the time they did not generate much income.
But two centuries on, their assets are worth £1.8 billion, with profits topping £50 million in 2023, according to their annual reports.
It has helped keep Charles on The Sunday Times Rich List, which ranks the 1,000 wealthiest people or families in the UK, with an estimated worth of £610 million.
Lucrative deals leasing land to the crisis-hit NHS, armed forces, publicly-funded schools, charities and renters have boosted his bottom line, according to the media probe.
In one example, Charles’ estate will earn nearly £12 million over 15 years storing a new fleet of electric ambulances owned by a London hospital in one of its warehouses.
In another, William’s estate will net £37.5 million over 25 years from the Ministry of Justice for leasing the currently empty Dartmoor Prison.
Graham Smith, head of anti-monarchy pressure group Republic, said the investigation “shows how the duchies are doggedly pursuing profit at every turn, at huge expense to the public and charities”.
The duchies have denied any wrongdoing.
– ‘Within the law’ –
It is not the first time that they have stoked controversy.
In 2006, an influential parliamentary committee pressured the government over why they benefit from major tax exemptions.
Baker said the Public Accounts Committee should refocus on it.
“It’s only under pressure like that that they’ll change,” he added.
“Unless they’re forced into doing something, they won’t do it.”
The former MP believes the royals are “in danger of losing public support big time” over the issue.
But David Haigh, head of consultancy firm Brand Finance, argued the duchies are operating like “any large aristocratic family estate”.
“Is it really unreasonable for them to expect market rate rents when they rent properties to government agents and departments? In my opinion it’s not.”
Haigh added the estates were “simply acting within the law in the best interests of their private capital,” comparing them to successful entrepreneurs like James Dyson and Richard Branson.