COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Multi-Million Dollars Hidden Bank Accounts Of Jonathan’s Minister Of Justice, Bello Adoke Exposed-iReports-ng.com

By SaharaReporters, New York Posted: January 13, 2012 - 12:23

IMAGE By iReports-ng.com

Barely 48 hours after an online publication exposed the sordid details of a N1.2 billion mansion just purchased by President Goodluck Jonathan’s Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,in Maitama area of Abuja, ireports-ng.com has uncovered four secret bank accounts where billions of naira, millions of US dollars and GB pounds are hidden by current Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke.

Adoke was appointed as Justice Minister by President Jonathan on April 6, 2010 and has since then been enmeshed in various allegations of corruption and providing cover for the corrupt who are facing court trial by withdrawing corruption charges against them.

Weeks of underground investigations by ireports-ng.com have however revealed more shocking details about Adoke’s secret bank accounts in the nation’s federal capital territory, Abuja. One of such is an account number 002228052782 at a branch of First City Monument Bank located at Plot 252 Herbert Macaulay Way,Central Area Abuja. In the account is a stunning sum of $16 million US dollars.

Further investigations revealed that Adoke is keeping yet another $24 million US dollars in account number 041152000428 with Diamond Bank located at Plot 117 Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Wuse 2 while another 5.3 million Great Britain Pounds is also kept in the same account with Diamond Bank.

As if that was not enough, ireports-ng.com also revealed that Nigeria’s Justice Minister operates another secret account with the Ahmadu Bello Way branch of Zenith Bank, Abuja where a whooping sum of N6.2 billion is being kept.

Born on September 1st,1963, Adoke was not known for any serious legal practice until he was brought to the limelight in 2010 when he was appointed as Justice Minister by Mr Jonathan. Since then, there has been series of allegations of under the table deals by Mr Adoke using his official position. He has in the last 48 hours issued two statements to threaten protesting Nigerian workers to sack them and charge civil society activists involved in the protests with treason.

Last year, an online publication accused Adoke of taking bribes from an arranged sale of moribund NITEL property in Area 11, Abuja and buy back of same from Adoke’s kinsman popularly called Alhaji AA Oil. Adoke’s share of the deal was said to have been diverted to build a massive mansion for him on Gana street, Abuja. Though he denied ownership of the property saying it belongs to AA Oil, finishing works have since stopped on the sprawling property which was being worked on day and night before the scandal broke out.

Also last year, a civil society group called Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders,CACOL petitioned Nigeria’s anti-graft police, EFCC to probe allegations that Mr Adoke collected bribes running into over $23 million US dollars from a plea bargain deal he arranged between government and some multinational firms including Siemens, Halliburton and Julius Berger.Ironically, Adoke supervises the EFCC that is supposed to investigate the various corruption allegations against him. It is yet to be seen whether the present head of the agency, Mr Ibrahim Lamorde will have the courage to probe graft allegations against Adoke which his predecessor failed to touch.

By SaharaReporters, New York Posted: January 14, 2012 - 06:39

More details are emerging about the corrupt deals of Nigeria’s Attorney General and Justice Minister Mohammed Bello Adoke – as well as the man’s mind-boggling deposits in numerous bank accounts.

Some 24-hours after an online news website, ireports-ng.com, published details of Mr. Adoke’s multi-million dollars in secret bank accounts, Nigeria's controversial attorney general admitted to another website that he in fact owns accounts in the banks reported by the website.

Mr. Adoke told Pointblanknews that he indeed owns the accounts, but claimed the deposits in the said accounts were not up to the amounts published by Ireports-ng.

“I have accounts with FCMB and Diamond Banks. I have a salary account with Intercontinental Bank and these are the only accounts I have been operating since I was appointed Attorney-General,” he told Pointblanknews.com. Then he added: “But the accounts in the said banks are far, far lower than the figures they are peddling.”

But the minister’s attempt to understate his staggering cash holdings has triggered more revelations of his financial shenanigans. iReports.ng has released more devastating information about Mr. Adoke’s ties to and financial involvement with several companies that have ripped Nigerians off in fuel subsidy scams.

The site reported that some of Mr. Adoke's close allies, infuriated with his despicable role to put down the on-going nationwide strike in the country, have provided documents that lay bare the minister's stupendous wealth hidden in over 25 blue chip companies in Nigeria – including firms that have reaped fraudulent profits from the contentious oil subsidy funds.

A rundown of the documents made available to ireports-ng.com reveal that Mr. Adoke is a major investor in Oando Oil, a firm that gulped down more than N228 billion out of the N1.4 trillion shared by about 100 oil marketers between January and August, 2011. The website’s investigation indicated that the Justice Minister owns an investment of about N1.5 billion in Oando Oil PLC.

Other documents also show that Mr. Adoke has a major investment stake in Eterna Oil which raked in about N5.57 billion from the fuel subsidy bonanza. In addition to N1 billion investment in Eterna, the minister also has N2 billion tucked in a company called Novasys Ltd.

A top-level political source in Abuja who is close to President Goodluck Jonathan told SaharaReporters today that the attorney general’s cozy relationship with some of the oil marketers was the reason the government has refused to pursue the option of prosecuting fraudulent profiteers who have cheated Nigerians of hundreds of billions of naira in the name of fuel subsidy.

“Mohammed [Adoke] and others in government are getting their share of the subsidy funds – and that’s why nobody is talking about trying those defrauding the system,” said the source.

Mr. Adoke’s corrupt deals also extend to the banking, telecommunications and real estate sectors. Reliable informants reveal that the minister has extensive investments in major banks in the country. Some of them include about N400 million in Oceanic Bank; N200 million in UAC properties; about N20 million in Guaranty Trust Bank; about N360 million in Access Bank; about $400,000 US dollars in MTN; about N1 billion in Japaul Oil & Maritime; about N15 million in Bank PHB; about N100 million in First Bank; about N20 million in FCMB, and about N6 million in Unity Bank PLC.

Saharareporters had earlier exposed Mr. Adoke’s central role in pushing the Central Bank of Nigeria to pay a businessman and associate of the minister an outrageous sum to purchase a NITEL property that the businessman had bought cheap from the government.

Following our earlier report about the minister’s bank accounts, a source in one of the banks revealed that Mr. Adoke had initiated moves to deplete his funds in the bank.

Other sources disclosed that Mr. Adoke owns more than 30 luxury vehicles that he has purchased in the last three years alone. In addition he owns several landed properties in Abuja. A source in the Ministry of Justice told SaharaReporters “it is well known that the minister collects money, cars and cash from individuals and corporations on whose behalf he subverts the course of justice.”

Saharareporters has consistently revealed that Mr. Adoke has distinguished himself as one of the most fraudulent and corrupt ministers in the Jonathan regime. His immersion in corruption follows a trend set by disgraced former Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa.

Like Mr. Aondoakaa, who was close to former Supreme Court Justice Aloysius Katsina- Alu, the current AGF used his closeness to the same (now retired) justice to secure his place in President Jonathan’s cabinet. Through his closeness to the notoriously corrupt Katsina-Alu, Mr. Adoke fixed the apex court’s verdict upholding Mr. Jonathan’s election as president.

Our political sources said the president is as indebted to Adoke as the late President Umaru Yar’adua was to Aondoakaa.

A source described Adoke as “one of President Jonathan's most powerful ministers,” adding that the minister is “a core member of the president’s kitchen cabinet.”