Tracing stolen funds – The $5.6million account

The various companies and investigating agencies helping the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of president Kufuor to trace foreign accounts in which stolen funds from Ghana have been lodged have made great strides.

One of them is an American company with offices in South Africa, which helps the Nigerian government of president Olusegun Obasanjo to recover over $2billion of stolen funds by the late Nigerian president, Sani Abacha.

According to “The Dispatch” a private newspaper, “whilst many of those who are being investigated and whose accounts are being traced have been making frantic efforts to move their accounts elsewhere and cover up, an interesting case which has developed, concerns the ownership of an account which now has US$5.6 million lodged in it. This account is located in the French capital, Paris.”

The account was traced by the method of searching for about 20 names of closest relations of the person being investigated. A banking history of the account revealed that between February and November 2001, over $112 million had been withdrawn. An interesting characteristic is that this account until November 2000, has huge and regular payments but the payments stopped in late 2000.

A huge chunk, over $25million was transferred from this Paris account into an offshore account in late December 2000. The ownership of the account was in December 2000 changed and new signatories introduced. Certain standing in-flows into the account were also canceled and certain long-term investments converted into cash and withdrawn.

A clue into some of the sources of funding into this Paris account is that one of the companies which effected a kickback into the account is prepared to come a legal agreement, in terms of giving the circumstances of payments, amounts paid but an indemnity from prosecution and non-cancellation of its business in Ghana.

The Dispatch says its investigations into the matter are ongoing.