Naijaonpoint
On 23 March 2005, while Joshua Chibi Dariye sat in office as Governor of Plateau State in Jos, the United States of America filed an application in the Orlando Division of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, asking the court to appoint Kendell W. Wherry, an Assistant United States Attorney, as Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal money laundering investigation in the United Kingdom against Dariye. The case was entered as Case No. 6:05-MC-39-Orl-19DAB, in the matter of Joshua Chibi Dariye.
The application was brought under Title 28, United States Code, Section 1782, the American statute under which a district court may direct that testimony be given, or a document produced, before a person appointed by the court for use in a foreign proceeding. SecretsReporters can authoritatively report that the filing also invoked Articles 1 and 8 of the criminal matters treaty between the United States of America and the United Kingdom. It was submitted in the name of Paul I. Perez, United States Attorney, and signed by Wherry.
The court order attached to the filing, dated 29 March 2005, appointed Wherry as a Commissioner of the court, directed him to issue commissioner subpoenas to collect the evidence requested, and directed him to certify and submit the evidence collected to the Office of International Affairs, Criminal Division, United States Department of Justice, for transmission to the United Kingdom. The order stated that it may be filed and maintained under seal, and that the Commissioner may be accompanied by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and representatives of the United Kingdom.
Behind the American filing stood a letter of request from London dated 14 September 2004, signed by D. M. Williams, Crown Prosecutor, of the Casework Directorate of the Crown Prosecution Service, London, under reference LB3.462.04. The memorandum in support stated that the request had been made by the Secretary of State for the Home Office, as Central Authority, in connection with a criminal investigation by officers of the Metropolitan Police, London.
The London letter named the suspect in full as Joshua Chibi Dariye, a Nigerian national, born on 27 July 1957. It stated that there are reasonable grounds to suspect money laundering offences by Dariye, contrary to Sections 93A, 93B and 93C of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and Sections 327, 328 and 329 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The American memorandum stated that in January 2004 the Metropolitan Police began an investigation of Dariye as a central figure in a suspected fraud operation and money laundering scheme in the United Kingdom, and that his name was discovered to control numerous bank accounts where millions of dollars appeared to have been transferred from Nigeria to the United Kingdom, many of them related to Pinnacle Communications Limited, with offices in Lagos, Nigeria.
The American memorandum stated that leads in tracing the money flow led the United Kingdom investigators to Osceola County, Florida, where the friends of Dariye arranged financing through Vistana Development Inc., Lake Buena Vista, Florida, for the purchase of two time share units. The British authorities asked for representatives of Harris Corporation and Vistana Development Inc. to be interviewed and deposed, and for subpoenas for real estate records, bank records and business records of Harris and Vistana.
The London letter asked for information and statements from Harris Corporation, 2400 Palm Bay Road, N.E., Palm Bay, Florida, which it stated is suspected to have appointed Babatunde Lucky Omoluwa as its representative, trading in Nigeria under the name of Pinnacle Communications Limited. Harris Corporation was to be asked to confirm that a contract to install television and radio communication equipment was secured with the Government of Joshua Dariye in Nigeria and Pinnacle Communications Limited for N950 million sometime in 1999 and 2000, and to supply documentation indicating where the money should have been spent. It was to be asked to establish why Pinnacle Communications Limited paid 50,997.90 dollars on 13 September 2001 and 542,684.78 dollars on 19 September 2001, from its United States Dollar account at Barclays Bank, Knightsbridge, London, to solicitors Rowberry Morris, for the purchase of Flat 28, Regents Plaza Apartments, 8 Greville Road, London, and why 72,250 dollars was paid on 12 December 2001 from the same account to a Barclays Bank account in London in the name of Joshua Chibi Dariye.
A second target stood in New York. The London letter asked for a statement from a manager of American Express Bank, New York Agency, PO Box 740, New York, to ascertain if any transaction or 5 million dollars can be traced for the benefit of Frederick Ngatia and Associates, Franco Investments Limited or Joshua Chibi Dariye, and, where traced, to give the conduct of the accounts, the amounts deposited and withdrawn, when the transfers took place and who ordered them.
The London letter stated that on taking office in 1999 Dariye signed a declaration indicating that he held no assets or bank accounts abroad, that he gave the same information again in 2003 for a second term, and that he earned approximately 1,000 pounds per month in his position. It stated that Barclays Bank Plc had confirmed 1.1 million pounds held in the name of Dariye, and National Westminster Bank Plc had confirmed 175,000 pounds and 80,000 dollars in two accounts for him.
The stated purpose of the request was to secure evidence for a criminal investigation and any subsequent trial and, following conviction, to determine the benefit obtained from the involvement of Dariye in money laundering, leading to confiscation proceedings against Dariye. The letter asked that Detective Sergeant Robert Ingram and Detective Constable Peter Clark of the Metropolitan Police be permitted to be present when the enquiries were made, and that certified copies of statements and documents secured be handed to the officers, with permission for their removal to England.
Download the full court document: here
Source: …Secretsreporters