Americans Helped Corrupt African Leaders Spend Their Money
In the U.S.
13 February 2010By Noel Brinkerhoff
For some Americans it’s no questions asked. Bring your
millions of dollars looted from foreign treasuries and
spend lavishly in the United States, or simply stuff
it into domestic bank accounts, including bundles of
cash smuggled in on the persons of world leaders.
The U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on
Investigations latest report (Keeping Foreign
Corruption Out of the United States: Four Case
Histories) details the lives of rich African despots
who have funneled huge sums into the country, all with
the help of morally-flexible Americans.
There’s Omar Bongo, president of Gabon, who was aided
by lobbyist Jeffrey Birrell in his purchase of
American-built armored vehicles and military cargo
aircraft, and who stashed more than $100 million into
offshore shell companies. Bongo also transported $1
million into the U.S., right past customs, by using
his diplomatic status and gave it to his daughter for
her to deposit into an American bank.
Another American, Jennifer Douglas, helped her
husband, Atiku Abubakar, former vice president of
Nigeria, smuggle “$40 million in suspect funds into
the United States, through wire transfers sent by
offshore corporations to U.S. bank accounts,”
according to the committee report. The Securities and
Exchange Commission has accused Douglas of taking $2
million in bribes from Siemens AG, a major German
corporation. Douglas eventually pled guilty to
criminal charges and settled a lawsuit stemming from
the bribery charges.
The tales of corruption go beyond involvement of
individual Americans and even implicate upstanding
institutions of higher learning. American University
in Washington, DC, reportedly accepted $14 million
over a five-year period from Abubakar through two
offshore corporations for consulting that helped
develop a Nigerian university. University officials
never asked about the source of the funds, telling
committee investigators it wasn’t required under the
law.
Senate Report Finds U.S. Banks
Support Corrupt Regimes Through Offshore Accounts
American banks, real estate and law firms have been
assisting foreign governments to hide or launder
stolen money, according to an investigation by a U.S.
Senate committee. Even though federal law requires
financial institutions to reject so-called “dirty
money,” some banks have continued to accept funds from
offshore accounts that were used to buy homes and
other property.
A report by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security
& Governmental Affairs revealed illegal transactions
committed by HSBC, which has a subsidiary in the U.S.
The report also cites other illicit deals, such as
those involving two American lawyers who were hired by
the son of the president of Equatorial Guinea to
create American shell companies in order to open bank
accounts for them. The attorneys then used $30 million
that was transferred from the oil-rich West African
country to buy a luxurious residence in Malibu,
California, for Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue.
Other transactions involved sending $73 million from
Obiang’s bank in Equatorial Guinea to Wachovia Bank,
which then transferred funds to Bank of America in
Oklahoma City. Citibank also was used to move another
$37 million.
©
EsinIslam.Com
Add Comments