Former Chairman of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP) under Buhari’s administration, Okoi Obono-Obla, has revealed that the ex-president refused to probe N296 billion loot of a former governor.
Obono-Obla said the former governor and senator used the $200 million loot – about Two hundred and ninety-four billion, thirty-eight million and two hundred thousand (294,038,200,000), using the CBN central market selling cap of N1470.191 to $1, to buy property.
In a MIC ON Podcast by Seun Akinbaloye, Obono-Obla, who was sacked by Buhari’s administration in 2019, on allegation of financial misappropriation said as head of SPIP, he and his team uncovered a house in Jabi, owned by a politician that has 80 brand new armored S-Class Mercedes Benz cars.
Obono said his team also discovered houses, farms, motorcycles and more linked to the same politicians. He further disclosed that his team found from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) that the politician was not paying tax for the luxury property. He added that import duties were not paid by the politician for the cars importation.
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“For instance, there was this case where somebody had 80 brand new armored S-Class Mercedes Benz cars, along with houses, farms, motorcycles, and more, all discovered in a single location in Jabi. I wrote to the Federal Inland Revenue Service about these assets, questioning if taxes were paid. They confirmed no records of tax payments,” he said.
On import duties for the 80 brand new armoured S-Class Mercedes Benz cars, he disclosed, “We intervened, questioned whether customs duties were paid on these vehicles. It turned out, they hadn’t,” he told Seun.
On the $200 million property loot, he further disclosed that former President Buhari and the Attorney-General, Abubakar Malami, were given the reports but they took no action.
“Through the Panama Papers, we discovered offshore properties worth over £200 million belonging to a prominent former governor and senator,” he disclosed.
