Pandora Papers, an acclaimed largest cross-border collaboration of journalists in history, in an investigation into a vast amount of previously hidden offshore companies has exposed hidden businesses reportedly owned by former Governor of Anambra state and vice Presidential Candidate in 2019 Presidential election, Peter Obi.
The investigation also exposed the non-declaration of assets and companies while he was a Governor. The investigation which is part of the global International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)and led Pandora Papers project revealed that Mr. Obi had businesses he clandestinely set up and operated overseas, including in notorious tax and secrecy havens in ways that breached Nigerian laws.
The Investigation which was published by Premium Times revealed the financial secrets of not less than 35 current and former world leaders, more than 330 public officials in more than 91 countries and territories. The investigation also consists of leaked files retrieved from some offshore services firms around the world that set up shell companies and other offshore entities for clients, many of them influential politicians, businesspersons, and criminals, seeking to conceal their financial dealings.
The project saw 600 journalists from 150 news organizations around the world poring through a trove of 11.9 million confidential files, contextualizing information, tracking down sources, and analyzing public records and other documents.
However, in an interview with another media, the former governor admitted that he did not declare these companies and the funds and properties they hold in his asset declaration filings with the Code of Conduct Bureau, the Nigerian government agency that deals with the issues of corruption, conflict of interest, and abuse of office by public servants.
He claimed he was unaware that the law expected him to declare assets or companies he jointly owns with his family members or anyone else. The report revealed how the former governor set up offshore businesses using his daughter’s name and later the family name to set up what has now become a convoluted business structure.
According to the report, the former Governor used a secrecy enabler in France, to incorporate an offshore entity in one of the world’s most notorious tax havens noted for providing conduits for wealthy and privileged corrupt political elites to hide stolen cash to avoid the attention of tax authorities.
Tax havens are politically and economically stable offshore jurisdictions or countries with extensive laws and systems that provide little or no tax obligations, but enable high secrecy and privacy protection for foreign individuals and businesses.
Through his hidden businesses and non-declaration of assets, Peter Obi violated Section Six (6) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act which stipulates that a person is statutorily obligated to withdraw from engaging in or directing a private business, except if it is farming, upon becoming a public officer.
Mr. Obi violated the constitutional provision on assets declaration that requires him to declare properties, assets, and liabilities and those of his (or her) unmarried children under the age of eighteen years.
