Multimillionaire
and retired Army General,Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd.), has been named
among prominent Nigerians that operated foreign accounts and had foreign
companies while holding public office.
German
newspaper, Süddeutsche
Zeitung, had on Sunday released the Panama Papers, the biggest leak
in the history of data journalism, publishing online 11.5 million documents
from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which showed how prominent people
including Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, a former governor of Delta
State, James Ibori, ex-Senate President, David Mark and others criminally hid
money using anonymous shell corporations across the world.
The
Panamanian law firm, regarded as one of the world’s most secretive companies,
according to the documents, has helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions
and evade tax.
According
to documents sighted by online medium, Premium
Times, Danjuma is a long time user of offshore entities, and the
Mossac Fonseca files have now exposed another of his companies.
The
database, Opencorporates, indicate that Danjuma served as director and
vice-president of Cross Group Holdings International, which was registered in
Panama on October 15, 1976.
Danjuma
was still in service and was Chief of Army Staff at the time the company was
incorporated.
He
was also director of Zara Logistics, a company registered in Cyprus on
September 2, 1993.
Another
company is – Eastcoast Investments Inc., which Danjuma incorporated in Nassau,
in the Bahamas, on March 25, 1997.
At
inception, Mr. Danjuma and a certain Colin Marcel Dixon were directors of the
company.
Premium Times learnt that the general formed the company
to enable him to do business with Scancem International of Norway when the
latter decided to expand its involvement in Africa to include a project in
Nigeria.
But
the company soon became embroiled in a messy bribery scandal, with Scancem,
according to court papers, later buying out Eastcoast Investment from the
project on December 1, 2003.
It
was later determined that “the money went mainly to another account, Eastcoast
Investment had, to Gen. T.Y. Danjuma and a certain The Volta Company.”
The
retired general was also among global personalities found to maintain secret
accounts, operated with codes, with the Swiss branch of banking giant, HSBC.
He
was linked to HSBC account 15731CD, which was opened in 1993 and closed in
2001.
Court
documents obtained by Premium
Times independently of the leaked Mossac Fonseca files described
Scancem, Mr. Danjuma’s business partner, as being “involved in extensive
bribery and corruption in a number of countries in Africa.”
Email:cknnews1@gmail.com
Twitter: @CKNNigeria
Facebook: CKNNigeria
CKN NEWS Hotline: 08080054001
Whatsapp: 08099677755
BBM : 2BE329DF
Website: www.cknnigeria.com
Tags
Society