Paul Ogwuma, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and his wife have acquired property worth \u00a333 million (N15.6 billion), a UK investigative journalism magazine has revealed.<\/p>\n
According to the magazine, Private Eye, Ogwuma, who served as CBN governor for six years has \u201camassed a \u00a333m British property empire\u201d.<\/p>\n
In its report titled \u201cAbuja on Thames\u201d the paper said it \u201chas identified a network of 15 British companies owned or controlled by Anna Ogwuma,\u201d wife of the governor, adding that her husband \u201clooted his country under 1990s military dictatorship\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cPaul Ogwuma, 86, was governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria during the brutal and kleptocratic rule of General Sani Abacha, when the bank was the latter\u2019s personal piggy-bank. Some estimates suggest looting under Abacha ran to billions of dollars,\u201d the report read.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder his successor for one year, retired general Abdulsalami Abubakar, Ogwuma oversaw a depletion in Nigeria\u2019s foreign currency reserves of around $3bn, or 40%\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween 2002 and 2017, her companies were used for 20 separate property purchases. They ranged from commercial sites in the north of England to luxury apartments in west London.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmong them are townhouses in Kensington and Paddington, a couple of apartments in Mayfair, and premises in Bishop\u2019s Stortford town centre that currently house a branch of Greggs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report added that \u201calthough the Abacha era and its excesses are receding into history, banks that were often complicit at the time might be expected to know some of this history.<\/p>\n
\u201cYet Mrs Ogwuma\u2019s most valuable properties were either bought or remortgaged with loans from Barclays Bank (which handled $170m of Abacha\u2019s ill-gotten wealth) and Lloyds Bank in the years after 2015.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile times have moved on, so has the law on money laundering, and Mrs Ogwuma\u2019s lavish property buying should have prompted questions about the origin of her money. The looting of Africa has a long legacy on the streets of Britain\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ogwuma served as the managing director\/CEO of Union Bank of Nigeria prior to his appointment as the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria in September, 1993.<\/p>\n
* The Cable<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paul Ogwuma, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and his wife have acquired property worth \u00a333 million (N15.6 billion), a UK investigative journalism magazine has revealed. According to the magazine, Private Eye, Ogwuma, who served as CBN governor for six years has \u201camassed a \u00a333m British property empire\u201d. In its report titled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":99406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,15,2],"tags":[48173,101,3411,26498,48171,48172],"yoast_head":"\n