That $9m cash-for-arms scandal

PUNCH
 BY PUNCH EDITORIAL BOARD

President Goodluck Jonathan
| credits: File photo

AS expected, the botched attempt to smuggle $9.3 million cash concealed in a private jet into South Africa from Nigeria is currently generating a diplomatic row between the two supposedly friendly African countries. South Africa, suspecting a case of money laundering, has seized the money and is insisting that the Nigerian government will have to forfeit it if proper explanations are not offered as to how such a huge amount of money was moved into the country in cash and without the strict compliance with the relevant laws.

The shocking details show that two Nigerians and an Israeli were picked up by the South African security agents after the private jet on which they were travelling touched down in that country. The plane, owned by Ayo Oritsejafor, the founding and Senior Pastor of Word of Life Bible Church and President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, was searched and found to be carrying three boxes containing bundles of freshly printed $100 bills, totalling $9.3 million.

While Oritsejafor has denied knowledge of the deal, claiming that his jet was under the management of a leasing company, which might have rented it out, the Nigerian government’s response has swung from tepid to farcical. According to the government, the money was meant for the purchase of arms, purportedly for the prosecution of the ongoing war against terror. The claim of ownership and the lame explanations offered by the Nigerian government have only done little to address the various sticking points concerning the deal.

For instance, it is interesting to know that the government failed to declare the amount that was being ferried to South Africa as is required by anti-money laundering practice the world over. In Nigeria, the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011, states, “A transfer to and from a foreign country of funds and securities by a person or body corporate including a Money Service Business of a sum exceeding $10,000 or its equivalent shall be reported to the Central Bank of Nigeria, Securities and Exchange Commission of the commission in writing within seven days from the date of the transaction.”

Further details are also demanded of the “nature and amount of transfer, the names and addresses of the sender and the receiver of the fund…” to be declared to the Nigeria Customs Service. Why did the Nigerian government fail to comply with this explicit requirement of the country’s law? Or was it an extension of the usual culture of impunity so prevalent within government circles in Nigeria?

There is also the issue of a violation of the global arms trade treaty. On June 3, 2013, the United Nations adopted and made open for signature, an Arms Trade Treaty on the global trade in conventional arms and ammunition, requiring governments to establish common standards for the international trade of weapons. Nigeria is one of the earliest signatories to the treaty. Why did our government flout this and other international obligations aimed at reducing the risk of weapons being used for human rights abuses, terrorism and organised crime?

We feel gutted and dismayed that the Jonathan administration has further discredited itself and debased Nigeria’s reputation by patronising some international gun-runners (non-state actors) in arms procurement instead of government-to-government transactions or the conventional Foreign Military Sales. Besides, why did the government have to carry out such transactions in raw cash? The action of the government is no more different from what terrorist organisations do when they want to purchase arms.

But it is still not completely surprising that the government has conducted itself in a gangster manner. This is the reason why reports of people caught with huge amounts of foreign currencies at the country’s airports have become commonplace. If a government cannot obey its own laws, how does it expect the citizens or other individuals to do so?

Interestingly, the South African government, through its agencies, Asset Forfeiture Unit and the National Prosecuting Authority, has reportedly said that it is not satisfied with the explanation that the money was meant for arms purchase. A statement credited to NPA said that Tier One Services Group, the company from which the Nigerian government claimed it wanted to buy arms, had no authorisation to sell or rent military hardware. What made the transaction even more curious was the claim by South African investigators that the said company had actually issued invoices for the purchase of arms to a Cyprus-based company just days before the cash arrival.

We are not persuaded either by such a cock-and-bull story. In a country where allegations of high profile disappearance of public funds are rife and public officials openly display lush lifestyles, such an action is bound to raise not a few eyebrows. This is why a proper investigation must be launched into the matter by the National Assembly, which has an oversight responsibility over the executive arm of government.

But no matter how the issue is resolved eventually, the scandal has trashed the remaining morsel of credibility in transparency the Jonathan administration had left. And for a country whose image has already been tarnished by graft, oil theft, widespread kidnapping, terrorism and piracy in our waters, this is an additional embarrassment that will not go away easily.

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Contact: editor@punchng.com