The household of Sambo Dasuki, Nigeria’s former Nationwide Safety Adviser, has been denied a U.S. visa as a result of ties to property bought with questionable funds.
Additionally denied was his spouse, Farida Dasuki.
A brand new investigation by the Platform to Shield Whistleblowers in Africa, PPLAAF, revealed that Dasuki acquired a 127-acre horse farm in South Carolina in 2002, utilizing funds of doubtful origin. On the time, he was in command of Nigeria’s Safety Printing and Minting Firm (NSPMC), liable for printing the nation’s foreign money.
The investigation, carried out in partnership with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Initiative (OCCRP), The Submit and Courier, and The Houston Chronicle, additionally uncovered makes an attempt by Dasuki’s household to acquire a U.S. investor visa, utilizing the farm as proof of funding.
Dasuki was indicted in 2015 for embezzling billions of {dollars} meant for the battle towards Boko Haram. The PPLAAF report hyperlinks round $27 million of those misappropriated funds to luxurious actual property purchases within the U.S., together with the South Carolina farm.
In her visa software, Dasuki’s spouse, Farida, claimed the funds used for the farm buy got here from a $1 million lobbying contract her husband had secured whereas heading NSPMC.
She acknowledged that Sambo Dasuki lobbied Ghanaian officers on behalf of a Texas-based oil firm. Nevertheless, U.S. authorities rejected the visa software, citing considerations concerning the funds’ origin. There aren’t any indications that additional motion has been taken relating to the property.
The farm, now owned by Dasuki’s spouse, options an equestrian heart and is used as an Airbnb rental and marriage ceremony venue. This new info follows a earlier PPLAAF investigation in collaboration with The Washington Submit and Premium Occasions, which uncovered Dasuki’s involvement in cash laundering by luxurious properties in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
Regardless of calls from Nigerian officers for the U.S. to hint the funds, Dasuki’s associates nonetheless personal a number of of those properties, together with the South Carolina farm.
Jimmy Kande, PPLAAF’s Western Africa director, highlighted the broader implications {of financial} crimes, stressing the connection between corruption and insecurity. He famous that terrorist {groups} within the Sahel have thrived partly because of the diversion of funds meant for nationwide safety.