A former Governor of Anambra State in Southeastern Nigeria, Peter Obi, is one of the politicians who discreetly opened a company in British Virgin Island to escape paying taxes, according to investigations carried out by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
It was discovered that Obi opened the company in 2010 and named it Gabriella Investments Limited, after his daughter, Gabriella Nwamaka Frances Obi, PREMIUM TIMES reported.
To establish the business, the former governor first approached Acces International, a secrecy enabler in Monaco, France, to help him incorporate the offshore entity.
Tax havens are politically and economically stable offshore jurisdictions or countries with extensive laws and systems that provide little or no tax obligations, but enable high secrecy and privacy protection for foreign individuals and businesses.
Obi also paid Acces International to provide nominee directors for the company. Nominee directors are residents of tax havens paid to sit on boards of companies to hide the identities of real owners of offshore firms.
He contracted Acces International to provide nominee directors, who are residents of the tax havens, in order to cover up the identities of the real owners of the company.
It was gathered that Acces, in turn, engaged a local registered agent – Aleman Cordero Galindo & Lee Trust (BVI) Limited (Alcogal) — to set up Gabriella Investments Limited for Peter Obi.
Gabriella Investment Limited
After extensive documentation, Gabriella Investment Limited was born on November 17, 2010, with registration number 1615538. Two figureheads – Antony Janse Van Vuuren and Lance Lawson — were appointed its first directors while ultimate control resided with Obi.
The investigations revealed that on the same day the company was incorporated, the nominee directors met and issued 50,000 shares of Gabriella Investment in favour of Hill International Holding Corporation, a shell International Business Company operating under the laws of Belize, another tax haven.
The director of the company is Mr Van Vuuren, also one of the directors of Gabriella Investment.
It is unclear what businesses Obi transacted with the entities but in some communications, they were sometimes referred to as investment vehicles.
Peter Obi told PREMIUM TIMES the offshore entity is the holding company for most of his assets and that the business structure he adapted was to enable him to avoid excessive taxation.
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“I am sure you too will not like to pay inheritance tax if you can avoid it,” he told the reporters who interviewed him.
PMGG Investments Limited
Findings showed that Peter Obi renamed Gabriella Investment in 2017 and the company became known as PMGG Investments Limited.
The new name is a representation of a combination of the first letters of the first names of Mr Obi’s nuclear family – P for Peter, M for Margaret (the Obi’s wife), G for Gabriella (the Obi’s daughter) and G for Gregory (the Obi’s son).
The Gabriella Settlement
Also, Obi has also now created a trust known as The Gabriella Settlement, an entity also registered in the BVI.
According to Fidelity Investments, a trust is a fiduciary arrangement that allows a third party, or trustee, to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary or beneficiaries.
Experts believe that trusts are traditionally used for minimising taxes even though they can offer other estate plan benefits as well.
By the current structuring of Mr Obi’s wealth and offshore businesses, The Gabriella Settlement, which appears to hold all or a majority of his assets, is the sole shareholder of PMGG Investments.
In turn, a New Zealander entity, Granite Trust Company Limited is the sole trustee of The Gabriella Settlement.
Sam Access International, the Monaco-based secrecy enabler Mr Obi first hired in 2010 to set up his offshore structure, was until August 23, 2019, the sole shareholder of Granite Trust.
In his response, Obi said that those offshore companies and assets are jointly owned with his family members and that he was not under obligation to declare companies jointly owned.
“I don’t declare what is owned with others,” Mr Obi told PREMIUM TIMES. “If my family owns something I won’t declare it. I didn’t declare anything I jointly owed with anyone.”
