Paradise Papers: Saraki in another secret deal with an offshore firm

When all seem to be going well with the Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, another wave of scandal has emerged as he was named in the global list of infamy, which exposed some leading world politicians for utilizing shell companies in tax havens to conceal assets, evade tax, or launder funds.

The latest details emerged from a leaked data obtained by German newspaper, Suddeutsche Zeitung, and International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) from two offshore secrecy providers (Appleby and Asiaciti Trust) and 19 secrecy jurisdictions.

The leaked 1.4 terabyte data, now infamously dubbed Paradise Papers, contains 13.4 million records and is no doubt one of the biggest leaks in history.

The allegation came up merely 18 months after the Panama Papers scandal which also linked him to three secret offshore firms he used in concealing assets abroad.

Recall that the Senate President was recently discharged by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accused him of misappropriation of funds and under-declaration of assets when he was the governor of Kwara State. The CCT ruling has since been challenged by the EFCC at the Court of Appeal.

The code of conduct law requires a public office holder to declare all owned assets, as well as those owned by their spouses and children below the age of 18 including the ones abroad.

There are strong indications that if his link with the Paradise Papers exposure is proved, he risks fresh criminal charges.

According to information from the International ICIJ, Saraki was uncovered as a board member of an offshore entity, Tenia Limited, starting from when he was governor of Kwara State till now that he is the President of Nigerian Senate, which violates the nation’s code of conduct law.

According to the findings, Saraki established Tenia Limited in the Cayman Islands, a notorious tax haven in the Caribbean since 2001, and operated it until at least 2015 as sole shareholder.

However, the nature of business embarked upon by the company is unclear and the nature of asset he used to conceal it

It was also discovered that the detail of the firm was missing in the asset assets declaration form both as the governor of Kwara State in 2003 and as a Senator in 2011.

For a year, more than 380 journalists from 96 media organisations in 67 countries celebrated the gigantic data, which cover a period of nearly 70 years, from 1950 to 2016.

More than 120 politicians and country leaders, in nearly 50 countries as well as hundreds of business people across the world were identified in the record as users of offshore entities.

The Paradise Papers disclosure which came 18 months after the Panama Papers has provoked worldwide outrage over the infamous use of shell companies by the world’s political and business elite to evade tax and defraud countries. There have also been debates about the ethics of using tax havens, where an estimated $32 trillion is believed held in offshore accounts, depriving their originating countries of tax revenues.

Tenia Ltd. was not amongst the hidden family assets of Mr. Saraki that were uncovered in the Panama Papers, indicating that the Senate President is a notorious concealed of offshore firms involved in heinous tax evasions.

Meanwhile, Andrew Stephenson of Discreet Law, a London-based law firm, an attorney for Saraki, confirmed that he owns Tenia Ltd., but could not link the company with financial misdeeds.

He said, “There’s nothing unlawful in the ownership of offshore companies,” when responding to an ICIJ enquiry, adding that the company had never been active since it was set up.

“We are instructed that Tenia Ltd. has never held any assets, nor has it ever traded or conducted any other business, nor does it have anything to do with the tribunal proceedings in Nigeria,” Stephenson explained.

Details of his 2003 declaration, showed that Saraki listed European and American Trading Company, Tyberry Corporation, Eficaz Ltd., Gensoft, All Africa Media Company, Merrill HHB Fund, Mundernet Fund and Izorch Incorporated as the only offshore companies he had interest.

Available information also showed that Saraki incorporated Tenia Ltd. in 2001 with Nigerian Head Office at 30 Saka Tinubu Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Myke Uzendu, Abuja with Agency reports