- Says he paid millions of dollars in cash for Florida properties
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has indicted a former Governor of Enugu State, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani of having looted and laundered $41.8 million when he held sway as the Chief Executive of the state.
The FBI, in a statement it presented in a forfeiture proceeding, stated that Senator Nnamani used the ill-gotten wealth to acquire luxury assets in Florida.
In the 2009 complaint, the FBI alleged that Nnamani connived with his sister, Chinero Nwigwe to steal public funds when he served as governor of Enugu State between May 1999 and May 2007.
The FBI’s statement also named the trio of Peter Mbah, Sam Ejiofor, and Chika Ohaa as Nnamani’s co-conspirators in the court documents in which it described Nnamani as an American citizen.
The FBI specifically said that Nnamani, a medical doctor, stole $41.868,877.05 in one of several illicit schemes he pulled as Enugu governor, adding that the money was about N5.3 billion at the time, but it’s now worth around N31 billion today.
The FBI noted that “Chimaroke Nnamani’s official salary as governor is the equivalent of $10,670 per year thus, it appears unlikely that Nnamani possessed an adequate source of legitimate income to account for the purchase of the lush real estate he amassed in Florida.
Judge William Acker of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, therefore, ordered forfeitures of Nnamani’s assets to the United States government after finding that Nnamani was not earning enough as governor to justify the millions of dollars in his possession.
The American authorities also declared that Nnamani was involved in a scheme that defraud the Enugu State, Federal Republic of Nigeria, in violation of Nigerian law since 2003 and continued until at least 2005.
The FBI said that Nnamani opened 20 bank accounts with AmSouth Bank in Orlando, Florida, where he stashed his loot even while serving as governor and was fully aware that it was illegal to maintain bank accounts abroad as an elected public official in Nigeria.
According to the FBI’s documents, Nnamani had set up a firm Rock City Group, LLC, to carry out the fraud, adding that parts of the stolen funds were used to lock down posh assets in Florida as Nnamani paid $1.8 million in cash to buy his Heathrow residence.
The statement by the FBI further states; “On February 22, 2007, Nnamani paid a total of $1,800,000 in cash” to buy a property at 1972 Bridgewater Drive, Heathrow, Florida.
Following a lengthy trial that began in July 2007, Judge Acker granted the FBI’s request to forfeit all properties linked to Nnamani’s fraud to the United States government on May 13, 2009.
