The Meriden hotel which formerly belonged to former rivers state military administrator, Anthony Ukpo, was bought by Diezieni Alison Madueke, Nigeria’s former minister of petroleum reports indicate.
It was sold for $25 million and the transaction was carried out using many individuals, including Dauda Lawal, an executive director of a top bank in Nigeria.
According to the investigations carried out by the EFCC, Lawal’s role was to effectively pick up money from Skye bank in Lagos and pay in $25million cash into an account in Sterling bank plc.
Stanley Lawson, a former group executive director of finance and account at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, allegedly played his part by organizing the transactions and ensuring smooth delivery.
During EFCC interrogation with Mr Dauda, he claimed not to be aware of the purpose of the transactions as he had no idea it was meant for the purchase of Le Meriden. According to him, he was merely running errands for a friend, Mr Lawson.
Le Meriden hotel was built in 2003 by retired Brigadier General ukpo with the help of Julius Berger. It is said to be a five-star hotel. Mr Ukpo sold the luxurious 87 room hotel to Mrs Alison-Madueke through a web of people with the hope of making the transactions to be discreet.
After the fraudulent transactions were found out by the EFCC, Mr Ukpo offered to hand over the hotel to the federal government but President Buhari is said to have rejected the offer, asking that the money be returned instead as the government doesn’t manage hotels.
Among those arrested in regards to the issue are Herbert Wigwe, Nnamdi Okonkwo and Yemi Adeola.