N522bn Paris Club loan refund: Saraki accused of money laundering

N522bn Paris Club loan refund: Saraki accused of money laundering

Sahara Reporters is reporting an alleged diversion of billions of naira in Paris Club loan refunds by the Senate President Bukola Saraki and Nigerian businessman Hassan Dambaba
According to the report, while Dambaba embezzled as much as N2.5 billion from the Paris/London Club refunds, Saraki grabbed for himself at least N3.5 billion.
N522bn Paris Club loan refund: Saraki, Dambaba accused of money laundering
The report comes after Dambaba presented himself for interrogation by agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

It was gathered that Dambaba was accompanied by a director of the Department of State Services (DSS), and according to a source, the businessman was acting as a front for Governor Abdulraziz Yariof Zamfara state, who is also the chairman of the Governors' Forum.

Speaking anonymously with Sahara Reporters, an EFCC investigator disclosed that the Paris loan club fund, which was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari, before he traveled to London on a prolonged medical vacation, came from a payment made by one of the state-owned oil companies at NNPC.

The funds were then used to repay states that claimed the federal government had over-deducted Paris Club repayments from their monthly allocations over the years.

But instead of using the money for paying workers salaries, the money was allegedly diverted.

While it was gathered that state governors individually pocketed as much as N400m in some cases, Senate President Bukola Saraki grabbed for himself at least N3.5 billion.

An investigator claimed that Saraki converted his haul into dollars and may have laundered the funds through Dubai and Germany.

A senior EFCC agent also disclosed that anti-corruption officials were on the verge of arresting Saraki and his accomplice, a former MD of his late father’s bank, Robert Mbonu, but paused when they were told to wait until President Buhari returns from his vacation on February 6.

There were reports that some of the governors and the Senate president diverted the Paris Club loan refund to private pockets.

The Presidency had last December approved N522.74 billion to be paid to the 36 states of the federation as part of the reimbursement for the over-deductions of the Paris Club loan.

States had submitted to the federal government, their claims for such deductions for foreign debt servicing between 1995 and 2002 as a result of the first line charge deductions from the federal allocations.

But in a swift response, the EFCC said that no state governor or the Senate president have been indicted over the Paris Club Loan Reimbursement plan.