ATIKU SAID: BRING THE EVIDENCE

This week, Atiku Abubakar responded to a new petition asking the EFCC to revisit allegations from his years as Vice-President. His response was straightforward: anyone with credible evidence should bring it forward and allow the law to test it.

So we went back to the records. The trail stretches back almost two decades and includes a US-requested investigation, an EFCC inquiry, disputes over the PTDF and later investigations in the United States involving money linked to accounts associated with Atiku’s wife.

A 2010 US Senate report said more than $40 million in what it described as “suspect funds” moved into the United States between 2000 and 2008 through structures linked to Jennifer Douglas, Atiku’s wife. The report did not convict Atiku of a crime, but it documented a financial trail that remains part of the public record.

There is also the Siemens case. A 2008 US SEC complaint stated that about $2.8 million in alleged bribe payments were routed through a Maryland bank account held in the name of the wife of a former Nigerian Vice-President. A later US Senate report identified that account holder as Jennifer Douglas.

That is serious, but the distinction is important. The SEC did not say Atiku personally received a $2.8 million bribe, and the Senate report did not amount to a criminal conviction against him.

Another famous part of the story involves former US Congressman William Jefferson. During an FBI investigation, agents traced $100,000 inz marked cash that had allegedly been discussed in connection with a Nigerian telecommunications deal. When Jefferson’s home was searched, $90,000 of the money was found hidden in his freezer.

The money was found with Jefferson, not Atiku. Atiku denied that he had ever agreed to receive money from Jefferson, and that detail matters because appearing in an investigation is not the same as being proven guilty.

But the opposite is also true. The absence of a conviction does not mean the historical record is empty. There were investigations, documented money flows, disputed findings and questions that have remained open for years.

Atiku said: bring the evidence. We found the files. Now we are following the money.

30 OCT — THE ATIKU FILES

VERO RECORD

- Truth has a paper trail