Nigerian Senator In Fresh Crises Over Alleged Acquisition Of Overseas Luxury Assets

<h4>Nigerian Senator In Fresh Crises Over Alleged Acquisition Of Overseas Luxury Assets<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> has gathered that a Nigerian Senator&comma; Chimaroke Nnamani&comma; allegedly looted and laundered &dollar;41&period;8 million during his days as Enugu State governor and used the ill-gotten riches to acquire luxury assets in Florida&comma; according to a statement submitted by the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The FBI stated this in a forfeiture proceeding in court documents which were obtained by Peoples Gazette&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The 2009 complaint seen by Peoples Gazette said Nnamani&comma; whom the FBI described as an American citizen&comma; connived with his sister Chinero Nwigwe to steal public funds when he led Enugu State between May 1999 and May 2007&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Peter Mbah&comma; Sam Ejiofor and Chika Ohaa were also named in the court documents as Mr Nnamani’s co-conspirators&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The FBI said Nnamani&comma; a medical doctor&comma; stole &dollar;41&period;868&comma;877&period;05 in one of several illicit schemes he pulled as Enugu governor&period; Authorities said the money was about N5&period;3 billion at the time&comma; but it’s now worth around N31 billion&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The FBI had argued that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Chimaroke Nnamani’s official salary as governor is the equivalent of &dollar;10&comma;670 per year&semi; thus&comma; it appears unlikely that Nnamani possesses an adequate source of legitimate income to account for the purchase” of the lush real estate he amassed in Florida&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Judge Williams Acker of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama ordered forfeitures of Nnamani’s assets to the U&period;S&period; government after finding that the Nigerian politician was not earning enough as governor to justify the millions of dollars in his possession&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Nnamani&comma; who has recently cut himself as a moral&comma; prudent leader devoid of corrupt practices long typical of a Nigerian politician&comma; did not return&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;American authorities further stated that Nnamani was &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;involved in a scheme to defraud the State of Enugu&comma; Federal Republic of Nigeria&comma; in violation of Nigerian law since at least 2003 and continuing until at least 2005&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;Nnamani opened 20 bank accounts with <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;saharareporters&period;com&sol;">AmSouth Bank in Orlando&comma; Florida<&sol;a>&comma; where he stashed his loot even while serving as governor and was fully aware that it was illegal to maintain bank accounts abroad as an elected public official in Nigeria&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Nnamani had set up a firm Rock City Group&comma; LLC&comma; to carry out the fraud&comma; documents said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Parts of the stolen funds were used to lock down posh assets in Florida&comma; with authorities stating Nnamani paid &dollar;1&period;8 million in cash to buy his Heathrow residence&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;On February 22&comma; 2007&comma; Nnamani paid a total of &dollar;1&comma;800&comma;000 in cash” to buy a proper at 1972 Bridgewater Drive&comma; Heathrow&comma; Florida&comma; filings said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Following a lengthy trial that began in July 2007&comma; Judge Acker granted the FBI’s request to forfeit all properties linked to Nnamani’s fraud to the U&period;S&period; government on May 13&comma; 2009&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;It was not immediately clear whether or not Nnamani’s successors tried to pursue repatriation of his loot to the state&comma; which has less than N150 billion in an annual budget that is largely unfunded&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;It was also unclear whether or not the FBI filed separate criminal charges against Nnamani&comma; but the Nigerian politician had faced separate forfeiture proceedings in Nigeria and lost&comma; especially in 2015 when a federal judge ordered forfeiture of some multibillion-naira assets linked to him in Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Source&colon; Sahara Reporters<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;