Nigeria, Switzerland Sign Pact Over Fresh $321m Abacha Loot -By Jonathan Nda-Isaiah

The Federal Government has welcomed an offer of the Swiss government to return $321m stolen funds from Nigeria under the Abacha government, and is now developing a framework that will aid the repatriation of the funds stashed abroad.
Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, made this disclosure yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja during a meeting with a Swiss delegation led by the country’s federal councillor and head of its foreign affairs department, Mr Didier Burkhalter and the Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Eric Mayoruz.
In a statement issued by his senior special assistant, media, Laolu Akande, he said: “We guarantee that recovered assets would be put to uses for which they have been intended.”
Accordingly, the vice president explained that the framework being developed would ensure exactly that.
Prof. Osinbajo said the framework once finalized will be made available publicly and it would cover the whole spectrum from the source of the stolen asset to how it would be managed once recovered.
He said: “the framework will guarantee that returned assets will be used in the interest of the people of this country.”
Commending the Swiss government on its assistance in repatriating the country’s stolen assets, the vice president said the federal government appreciated the Swiss government for their very laudable efforts.
He noted that the “Swiss has always been at the forefront of returning stolen assets and ensuring that the people of Nigeria gets the benefits.”
Later the attorney-general of the federation and justice minister, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, signed an agreement which was described as a “Letter of Intent” between the Swiss government and the Nigerian government on the restitution of illegally-acquired assets forfeited in Switzerland.
Mr. Burkhalter signed the letter for the Swiss government.
Under the agreement, the Swiss government will award to Nigeria $321m of funds illicitly acquired by the Abacha family, initially deposited in Luxembourg and confiscated by the Judiciary of the Republic and Canton of Geneva pursuant to a Forfeiture order dated 11th December 2014.

Culled from Leadership

Crude Theft: FG Sues IOCs over $12bn Missing Oil Revenue- Davidson Iriekpen

President Muhammadu Buhari

In a move interpreted by industry watchers as a major step by the Muhammadu Buhari administration to curb the menace of oil theft in the country, the federal government has instituted civil suits against international oil companies (IOCs) operating in the country in a bid to recover over N2 trillion in alleged missing revenues from over 57 million barrels of crude oil shipments that were believed to have been declared or under-declared between 2011 and 2014.

THISDAY learnt that in the suits filed on the government’s behalf by a team of lawyers led by Prof. Fabian Ajogwu (SAN) against the oil giants, the government is praying the Federal High Court in Lagos to direct the oil firms to pay into its account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the sum of over $0.6 billion (comprising $51,033,180, $462,681,780, and $145,551) in the first instance, being the value of missing revenues accruable to the government of Nigeria from the shortfall/undeclared/under-declared crude oil shipments made by the defendants.

The federal government’s legal team explained in its deputations that the significant crude oil theft for which payment is being sought, takes the form of accounting fraud, non-declaration or under-declaration of crude and gas cargoes.

In one instance, the team revealed some cases where it was discovered that an oil tanker declared that it loaded about 50,000 barrels at Nigeria’s port, but the same vessel on arrival at a port in the United States, discharged over 60,000 barrels of crude oil revealing a difference of 10,000 extra barrels uncounted for.

It noted that it is all these cumulative differences that account for the losses running into billions of dollars in lost revenues.

The federal government’s suit may not be unconnected to President Muhammadu Buhari’s position from the outset of his government that a lot of the oil theft under his predecessor’s administration went on with the collusion of international oil tankers that lift Nigeria’s crude on behalf of the IOCs and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Shortly after he assumed office, he banned 113 vessels from lifting the country’s crude oil but was later to reverse the ban after pressure was mounted by the ship owners and Nigeria’s oil shipments suffered a decline in the global market.

In lifting the ban, Buhari had approved the consideration of all incoming ships subject to a letter guaranteeing that they were free and would not be used for any illegal activity.

The president had also directed a review of activities of all affected vessels to determine their culpability in illegal operations in Nigerian territorial waters.

The legal team, in the suits, stated that there is documentary evidence showing that over 57 million barrels of Nigeria’s crude oil was illegally exported by the oil companies and sold to buyers in the US alone from January 2011 to December 2014.

It went further to submit that the missing revenue due to Nigeria as a direct result of this non-declaration and/or under-declaration of shipments made between 2011 and 2014 to buyers in the US alone is valued at $12,722,600,327.

According to documents filed in court and sighted by THISDAY, at an official exchange rate of N197 to the dollar, the said amount translates to over N2,493,629,664,092.

Exhibits attached to the court processes showed that there were a series of investigations undertaken by a consortium of experts comprising Nigerian and American lawyers as well as technical partners (both foreign and local) engaged by the federal government.

The job of this consortium of experts, according to the documents, included intelligence-based tracking of the global movements of Nigeria hydrocarbons, including crude oil and gas, with the main purpose of identifying the companies engaged in the practice that led to missing revenues from crude oil and gas exports/sales to different parts of the world.

The outcome of the said investigations revealed that the crude oil declared to have been exported from Nigeria between January 2011 and December 2014, was less than what was declared to have been imported into the United States of America, a country that maintains detailed records and has stricter compliance measures.

Before filing the suits against the IOCs, THISDAY gathered that all the crucial data and intelligence reports submitted by the consortium of experts had been shared with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which in turn is poised to begin major recoveries from the errant companies for payment to the central bank account.

As at press time, the matter had neither been assigned to a judge nor a reaction received from any of the oil companies.

However, the current move is seen as one being pursued by the Buhari-led administration to curb oil theft, encourage transparency, sanitise the oil and gas industry, and send a strong signal that the days of oil theft are over.

Culled from Thisday

Clinton’s tax hikes on the rich would raise $1.1 trillion over 10 years - By Eric Pianin

 

.

View photo

Clinton’s Tax Hikes on the Rich Could Raise $1.1 Trillion Over 10 Years

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton is promoting tax measures that would increase federal revenues by $1.1 trillion over the coming decade, according to a new analysis. Compared to Republican plans, which typically cut taxes, her proposal could help stabilize the nation’s ballooning debt if she also finds a way to reduce existing government spending.

Clinton’s proposals for boosting taxes on high-income earners, modifying taxation of multi-national corporations, doing away with fossil fuel tax incentives and increasing the estate and gift taxes would fall hardest on the top 1 percent of taxpayers, while leaving 95 percent of Americans relatively unscathed, according to an analysis released on Thursday by a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution.

Clinton’s tax plan, including some leftover ideas from the Obama administration, would almost certainly encounter stiff opposition from the GOP controlled Congress which opposes any tax increases. Moreover, Clinton has advanced a raft of high-priced plans for the middle class – including relieving college tuition costs and expanding healthcare, family leave and energy production – that would more than offset the $1.1 trillion of new revenue over the coming decade.

While Clinton’s tax proposals are still a work in progress and could end up being more costly, the report says there is little doubt that the wealthiest Americans would be hardest hit by soaring marginal tax rates that would “reduce incentives to work, save and invest.” The 40-page report doesn’t venture a guess as to the long-term effect of these tax increases on the overall economy. However, they would almost certainly slow the growth of the Gross Domestic Product if enacted unless Clinton’s ambitious domestic proposals succeeded in generating new jobs and economic activity.

Len Burman, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, told reporters today on a conference call that his organization hasn’t conducted a full macro-economic analysis of Clinton’s plan yet, and probably won’t until later this year after the Clinton campaign unveils other proposals for providing tax relief to middle and lower-income Americans.

“I think a standard macro-economic model would show probably a small reduction in economic output from the rising marginal tax rates,” he said. “The actual effect is a little complicated because it depends not only on how it affects changes to work, savings and investment . . . but it also depends on what the money is spent for.”

Clinton, the former secretary of state and first lady, unveiled her tax proposals on March 3. Among her proposals:

• A 4 percent surcharge on adjusted gross income above $5 million.
• A 30 percent effective tax rate on adjusted gross incomes greater than $1 million – the so-called “Buffett Rule” that would guarantee wealthy people pay tax rates at least as high as those of lower-income people.
• An increase in the estate tax and limiting the tax value of specified deductions and exemptions to 28 percent.

If these and scores of other proposals were approved, taxpayers in the top 1 percent of the income distribution, with annual incomes above $730,000, would see their tax burdens increased by more than $78,000, according to the report. That would amount to a reduction in after-tax income of 5 percent. By contrast, most Americans who earn less than $300,000 a year would see little change in their average after-tax incomes.

According to the study, Clinton’s proposals would increase federal revenue by $1.1 trillion over the first 10 years of the plan and an additional $2.1 trillion over the following decade. The top 1 percent of U.S. households would be obliged to pay more than three quarters of the total tax increase. 

Related: Sanders’ Plan Would Raise Taxes a Staggering $13.6 Trillion over a Decade

The combination of the 4 percent surtax on adjusted income over $5 million and the new 30 percent minimum tax would effectively drive up the average marginal tax rate on all forms of capital income for the wealthiest Americans and discourage investment, according to the report. For instance, the average marginal tax rate on interest income would shoot up by 4 points – from 36.8 percent to 40.7 percent – within the very highest income tier. Meanwhile, the effective marginal tax rate on dividends would rise from 24.0 to 30.3 percent.

Clinton’s tax proposals contrast sharply with those of her Democratic rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, as well as billionaire Donald Trump and the two other remaining major GOP candidates, Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida.

Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist, has advanced a soak-the-rich tax plan that would raise taxes by $13.6 trillion over the coming decade to help pay for his proposals for universal government health care, free college tuition and other measures, according to an analysis by the non-partisan Tax Foundation. Sanders is seeking the largest tax hike in modern times, one that would boost the top marginal income tax rates to 54.2 percent and likely slow the growth of the economy by 9.5 percent in the long-term, according to the analysis. 

On the Republican side, Trump, Cruz and Rubio have all proposed major tax reforms to spur economic growth, but all at enormous potential costs to the Treasury. Trump’s plan, for example, would drain the federal coffers of $9.5 trillion over the first decade and another $15 trillion over the second ten years, according to a separate Tax Policy Center study.

Related: Study Challenges Clinton’s Tax Plan for $1 Trillion in New Spending

Cruz’s revolutionary idea to switch from the current federal tax code to a simple, European-style “flat tax” would add $8 trillion to the deficit over the coming decade, according to a new study by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. And Rubio’s tax cuts and simplification plan would reduce federal revenues by $6.8 trillion over a decade, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

“Those are really big deficits,” Burman said today in raising a red flag about many of those proposals. “And I think it’s safe to say . . . if there were not pretty big spending cuts to offset those deficits, the deficits would have a negative effect on the economy. The way that works is, the government borrows more and more money and pushes up interest rates, which actually makes the government’s problems even worse in the ways we didn’t explicitly reflect in our analysis.”

Culled from The Fiscal Times:

Senate: Supreme Court ends hope of Chris Uba, others

The Supreme Court in Nigeria on Wednesday dashed the hopes of Anambra strong man, Chief Chris Uba following a ruling that ended controversies over the representation of his state at the national assembly.
The court bluntly refused invitation of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to clarify the controversies over its earlier judgment which many had interpreted had by default, made Chris a senator while his brother, Andy will have to vacate his senatorial seat.
In the earlier judgement, the Supreme Court had declared the faction of Anambra State PDP Executive which conducted the primary elections which led to emergence of Senators Andy Uba and Stella Oduah illegal.
Uche Ekwuenife, the third senator produced in the primary conducted by the faction had earlier being kicked out by Court of Appeal.
In the earlier judgment delivered last month, the Supreme Court had upheld the December, 2014 decision of Justice Chukwu of Federal High Court in which the Chris Uba backed Ejike Oguebego faction was declared the authentic PDP executive for Anambra State.
Analysts had thought that by the judgment, Andy Uba, Stella Oduah and PDP members of House of Representatives, who were products of a primary conducted by another faction of the party, are now to be replaced by those on the list submitted to INEC by the Ejike Oguebego-led Executive Committee of the PDP in Anambra.
The ruling had led to clamour by Chief Chris Uba, the two other senators as well as House of Representatives contenders produced from the primary conducted by the court recognized faction to be sworn in as lawmakers.
They had also mounted pressure on INEC to issue certificates of return to them in tune with their interpretation of the court ruling.
But Andy and Stella Oduah who have been sitting pretty as Senators rejected the interpretation of the judgment to mean that they have lost their seats.
The Senators insisted that the primary which led to their emergence as PDP candidates in the senatorial election was conducted by representatives of National Executive of PDP and not the local executive declared illegal by the court.
With the pressure coming on all sides, INEC decided to approach the Supreme Court to further clarify its judgment as relates to authentic representatives of Anambra State in the National Assembly.
On Wednesday, the apex court in a judgment delivered by Justice Inyang Okoro said the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case.
The Judge also said the request by INEC on it to review its earlier judgment was wrong as no such errors existed in the judgment on the matter delivered last month.
Justice Okoro also held that the applicant tried to mislead the court by including fresh issues that were not captured in the judgment sought to be interpreted.
“In that judgment, the court set aside the decision of the lower court and ordered that Chief Ejike Oguebego remained lawful Chairman of the PDP in Anambra pending the determination of the substantive suit.
“We did not elevate Oguebego to National Chairman of the party, let alone deciding whether he reserved the authority to submit list of the candidates to contest the National Assembly from that state.
“We also did not decide or mandate INEC to the candidates to issue certificates of return because that matter was not before us,” Justice Okoro said.
The Judge accused INEC of being pressured by commentaries in the media to file the motion.
“Since the applicant is unable to convince the court on whether it has jurisdiction to hear the motion, it is hereby dismissed.’’
“We have gone through the argument advanced by counsel to parties. And the court cannot be invited to interpret, justify or clarify its own judgment based on issues outside the purview of that judgment.
“This subtle invitation is simply to cause the court to rewrite the judgment, and we cannot do so. This is a court of finality,” Okoro held.
Culled from PM NEWS in Sun

Saraki Replies Obasanjo, Promises to Cut Waste, Fight Corruption in N’Assembly

Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has formally replied the letter the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, wrote to the National Assembly on January 13, accusing the federal lawmakers of corruption, greed, lawlessness and impunity.

In his reply, dated January 29, Saraki, according to Premium Times, responded to Obasanjo’s concern, saying the eighth National Assembly, under his leadership was already taking deliberate steps to strengthen the country’s democratic institutions and ensure prudent management of resources.
“This is to ensure that we plug all leakages and minimise waste across our expenditure systems.”
“Likewise, the eighth National Assembly has made the issue of plugging leakages and cutting wastages in our public expenditure system a major priority that should not be toyed with. This may have happened in the past but it will not happen with us,” he said in the letter.

The former president had in his letter addressed to Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, accused the lawmakers of fixing and earning salaries and allowances far above what the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) approved for them.

He also alleged that most of the 109 senators and 369 members of the House of Representatives were receiving constituency allowances without maintaining constituency offices as the laws required of them.

He faulted the plans by the lawmakers to acquire new exotic cars for themselves, saying: “Whatever name it is disguised as, it is unnecessary and insensitive.”

He advised that “a pool of a few cars for each chamber would suffice for any committee chairman or members for any specific duty.”

“The waste that has gone into cars, furniture, housing renovation in the past was mind-boggling and these were veritable sources of waste and corruption.”

“That was why they were abolished. Bringing them back is inimical to the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians,”Obasanjo said.

But in his response, Saraki told the former president that the lawmakers were fully aware of the challenges the nation was facing, saying: “As leaders with a duty, we will not disappoint Nigerians in their yearnings for a more transparent public expenditure system.”

On corruption, Saraki said the National Assembly was working with President Muhammadu Buhari to stem the menace in the country.

According to him, the legislature was already overhauling its oversight functions to make it more effective in exposing corruption in federal ministries, departments and agencies.
“We are hand in glove with the president on this matter and this is why we are overhauling our oversight functions to make it more effective in exposing corruption in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA).

“We recognise the hard work our anti-corruption agencies are putting into this fight.
“The Senate is resolved to support them to perform their duty effectively by providing them with adequate funding where necessary, as their work is integral to our oversight responsibility.”
Obasanjo had written the National Assembly to amplify widespread concerns that federal lawmakers were insensitive to the economic hardship facing their country, and had continued to live in opulence at taxpayers expense.

As the Senate President’s letter got to Obasanjo, the federal lawmakers were allegedly taking delivery of exotic cars for themselves even when the nation’s monetisation policy forbids them from doing so.

The acquisition of the cars was also done in disregard of the advice of the former president urging the lawmakers to discard the plan.

The National Assembly is yet to make details of its 2016 budget public despite widespread calls on them to emulate the other arms of government – the executive and the judiciary – and do so.

Source: Thisday

More Troubles For PDP As Gulak’s Associates Float New Political Party, PMP-By Chibuzo Ukaibe

The crack within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has widened as associates of the former political adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Ahmed Gulak, have formed a new political party, the Peoples Mega Party (PMP).
Members of the group attended the maiden National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the PMP in Abuja yesterday and adopted Chief Perry Opara as the protem chairman of the proposed party.
Opara, who led the PDP faction was an aide to Gulak, who recently declared himself national chairman of PDP after getting a court judgement against the then acting national chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus.
Opara said: “The major people that are forming the party are majorly former members of the PDP who are disenchanted with the high level of corruption, with the high level of impunity and high-handedness going on in the PDP. They have decided to form something new.
“It does not mean that it is only people from the PDP. We have APGA chairmen from many states of Nigeria identifying with the new party, people from Labour Party (LP) and the Accord Party (AP).
“There are also disenchanted people from the APC that feel that they want a new place and that is what it is. Today marks the birth of this new party.
“We don’t normally mention their names. Nobody has given me mandate to mention his name, so I don’t know what you mean by bigwigs but the party is for all.
Assuring that the party would be registered soon, Opara however explained that the proposed party would not participate in the forth-coming council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The proposed party adopted human picture as its logo while its slogan is: “Forward Nigeria.”

Culled from Leadership

Mbeki: How Gen Abacha Betrayed Mandela’s Trust-Olawale Olaleye

Former South African President, Thabo Mbeki

• Says killing of Saro-Wiwa, others led to a drift in Nigerian, S’African relations

Former South African President, Mr. Thabo Mbeki, monday gave a graphic picture of how Nigeria’s former military head of state, General Sani Abacha, betrayed a solemn undertaking he had with South Africa’s late president, Mr. Nelson Mandela, a development he said led to a drift in the bilateral relations between Nigeria and South Africa.

Mbeki, in a piece posted on his Facebook page, titled: “Propaganda and the Pursuit of Hegemonic Goals – The Myanmar and Zimbabwe Experience”, said the Mandela administration was under intense pressure from the international community to support its proposed sanctions on Abacha’s government over alleged rights abuse, but the former South African leader refused to succumb to the pressure.
The pressure, he claimed, came against the backdrop of expectations by the international community that the post-Apartheid South African government under Mandela should have led the campaign for the respect of human rights especially in Africa, adding that Mandela’s first major test was at the 1995 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), held in Auckland, New Zealand.

But Mandela, he said, refused to yield to pressure initially on the grounds that his government had been in talks with Abacha on the release of the late Ogoni leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni detainees; the presumed winner of the 1993 presidential election, the late Chief MKO Abiola, as well as General Olusegun Obasanjo and the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua.

Mbeki, who was clearly alluding to the hypocrisy of the international community on human rights protection, said: “President Mandela resisted all this until news filtered in on the very first day of the CHOGM that the Nigerian government had executed Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his Ogoni colleagues.

“He then immediately joined others to strongly condemn the Abacha government and approved the suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth.”

Narrating the story in detail, especially what the events that forced the former South African leader to have a change of heart, Mbeki said after Mandela had personally visited Nigeria in 1994 and engaged Abacha on the matter of the release of Abiola, he (Mbeki) also led a small delegation a year later as a follow up to Madela’s visit.

According to him, “In July 1995, I led a small delegation of our government to Nigeria to meet General Abacha. This time our focus was on the two matters of persuading General Abacha and his government to release the Ogoni leader, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and his co-accused, as well as to release Generals Olusegun Obasanjo and Shehu Yar’ Adua, who were detained for allegedly having been involved in a planned coup d’etat.

“We met General Abacha at 02.00 hrs at his offices. Having heard us out, he told us that he would reflect on what we had said and would respond to us before we left Nigeria.

“A day or so later, then Chief of Defence Staff and effective deputy to Abacha, Lt.-Gen. Oladipo Diya, invited us to lunch. During this lunch he gave us General Abacha’s response to the issues we had raised.

“This response was that with regard to the matter of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his co-accused, Gen Abacha could not intervene to stop a legal judicial process, which involved murder charges.

“However, if the accused were to be found guilty and sentenced to death, he would use his prerogative as head of state to reprieve the accused so that they would not be executed.
“Gen. Diya also reported that Gen. Abacha had said there was a military tribunal which was considering the matter relating to Generals Obasanjo and Yar’Adua.

“It was necessary that he should allow the tribunal to complete its work. His view was that the tribunal would recommend the release of the two Generals, failing which he would again intervene to release them.
“After asking Gen. Diya to convey our thanks to Gen. Abacha for the commitments he had made, we suggested to him that it would be best that the Nigerian government makes the necessary announcements when the time came, rather than that we should do this.

“Diya agreed to this and said that Gen. Abacha would issue the necessary orders at the appropriate moments.

“Our delegation still had a small challenge to address. We had travelled from South Africa with a journalist. Treated by our Nigerian hosts as a member of our delegation; she was present at the lunch, where Gen. Diya gave us Gen. Abacha’s response.

“She therefore had a real ‘scoop’! Together with her we agreed that if she were to publish what we had been told by Gen. Diya, the likelihood was that not only would the Nigerians deny the story, but this would also inevitably condemn Ken Saro-Wiwa and others and Generals Obasanjo and Yar’Adua to death.

“A principled person, she kept her word not to publish her ‘scoop’, convinced as all of us were that Gen. Abacha had made a commitment to President Mandela and South Africa, which he would honour.

“It was with this knowledge that President Mandela left South Africa to attend the New Zealand CHOGM meeting.”

Mbeki further disclosed that when Saro-Wiwa and others were executed, Mandela was truly surprised and genuinely outraged that Abacha had evidently so easily betrayed his solemn undertaking to him to keep them alive.

“Undoubtedly our government drew its own conclusions from this painful experience with regard to the complexities of the construction of inter-state relations, including as this relates to the effective promotion of human rights,” he said.

Culled from Thisday