Britain steps up pursuit of Nigerians who stash stolen loot in their country through use of Unexplained Wealth Orders

BRITAIN has stepped up its pursuit of fraudulent Nigerian politicians who stash stolen public funds in its banks by targeting them with a new anti-money laundering scheme known as Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs).

Party of a global initiative designed to combat corruption, money laundering and kleptomania in public office, UWOs are targeted at people with dubious wealth living or investing in industrialised countries. Donald Toon, the director of prosperity at Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA), said that apart from Nigerians, also being closely watched are investors from Russia, China and the Middle East.

UWOs empower the British government to seize the assets of corrupt politically exposed persons or those with links to serious crime. Transparency campaigners in Britain often question the source of some of the wealth that keeps pouring into the country from abroad, as the country has always served as a haven for stolen African wealth.

Mr Toon said: “We have significantly scaled up the work that we are doing. We are absolutely looking at Russians but we are not exclusively looking at Russians and Russian assets.”

He added that Nigerians the NCA is targeting include those who buy everything from luxury properties to entire companies. According to Mr Toon, Britain has become a very attractive destination for corrupt foreign money, particularly from Russia, Nigeria, Pakistan, former Soviet Union states and the Far East.

NCA officials estimate that about £100bn of dirty money is moved through or into Britain annually. Assets worth about £25m have already been frozen under the UWOs, although Mr Toon admitted that the process is difficult and time-consuming as each case has to be taken through the courts.

“Some people in that space absolutely have directly and immediately something to fear because they are subjects of cases we are working on. The fact you are not seeing big numbers at the moment does not mean we are not doing the work, because we are.

"You will see that come through in the courts, it will take time but you will see it. It takes time because the people who hold these assets are not stupid,” Mr Toon added.