International commercial law expert Dr Gbenga Oduntan has organised a series of training conferences in Nigeria on tracing funds transferred as a result of corrupt practices.
The first two-day conference takes place in Lagos on 20/21 November with a second two-day conference following in Abuja on 23/24 November. Each event is targeted at anti-corruption activists, media practitioners, compliance officers, anti-corruption agencies, opinion leaders, bloggers, lawyers and legal advisers.
With the first day entitled ‘Tracking Noxious Funds: Strategies and techniques for whistleblowing and tracing property purchased’ and the second day entitled ‘Investments from Proceeds of Bribery and Corruption Transferred to the West and Tax Havens’, the training offers a practical, doctrinal and procedural introduction to researching company and property ownership using public sources of information. Conference attendees will also learn how to find shell companies and their property and how to identify online resources and sources of information. The training includes practical sessions that will enable participants to conduct their own searches under the supervision of expert facilitators from Europe, the US and Nigeria.
Dr Oduntan was awarded a grant of $50,000 for the training project by the MacArthur Foundation and the Institute of International Education after running a successful one-day conference called ‘Tracking Faulty Towers’ at Kent Law School in July.
Dr Oduntan said: ‘It has become clear over the last few decades last that the phenomenon of bribery, corruption and stolen funds is one of the principal causes of underdevelopment in the global south. The stolen wealth of Nigeria and other ECOWAS countries has not only found safe haven in the banks and financial institutions of the UK and other western countries but has become a major source of the funds for the purchase of UK properties contributing to housing shortages in London.
‘Every year billions of pounds of corrupt money enters the UK and is invested in property by corrupt individuals. Transparency International in March 2017 found out that over £4.2 billion worth of properties have been bought by politicians and public officials with suspicious wealth. This training workshop aims to enthuse and empower professionals, activists and media practitioners with the most up to date tools to trace stolen wealth of Nigeria that has been taken abroad. The workshops will define the law and identify the practical issues surrounding discovery of the illegal investments of politically exposed persons from Nigeria in the UK, the US and leading tax havens. The workshop will be held in conjunction with (and involve trainers and researchers from): two major UK Civil Society Organisations – Corner House and Global Witness; Re:common (an Italian research and advocacy group); and a coalition of Nigerian Civil Society organisations under the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA).’
Dr Oduntan has research interests in public and private international law particularly international courts and tribunals; arbitration; international commercial law, anti-corruption law, international economic law and oil and gas law. He is a recognized expert in sovereignty and boundary issues, as well as in air and space law. He is the author of several books including International Law and Boundary Disputes in Africa (Routledge, 2015) and Sovereignty and Jurisdiction in Airspace and Outer Space (Routledge, 2012). He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and of the Nigerian Bar Association (Barrister and Solicitor).
Conference aims:
Attendees will discover the jurisdictional issues as well as contemporary rules of national and international law and procedure that are used to:
- learn about the current innovative Nigerian whistleblowing programme which compensates whistleblowers
- influence outcomes in safeguarding your country’s fortune through tracing where national loot is stored
- research tax fiddles, scams and shell companies
- research and trace the assets of dictators and statesmen
- understand the means by which politically exposed persons disguise their wealth and use tax islands as well as financial hubs for storing stolen wealth
- understand the issues surrounding the use of UK Companies House in conducting searches
- learn how to work with Company Registrars in other countries
- understand the potential for use of company Annual Reports and Prospectuses
- examine the procedural rules that apply to researching companies and corporate networks
- examine e-resources to trace proceeds of corruption and financial crimes
- quiz world-renowned experts who have worked on some of the most high-profile anticorruption investigations in the UK, US, Europe and Nigeria including:
- Panama papers
- Nigeria-Shell Oil case
- Abacha Loot
- Gamal loot
- Ghadaffi stashes
- current Nigerian investigation and siezures etc.
Who is it for?
- Anticorruption activists, civil society practitioners, community leaders, and academics
- Nigerian and other African diaspora
- justices, judicial officers, registrars, Senior Counsel, prosecutors, senior legal advisers, legislators and diplomats
- anti-corruption agencies EFCC, ICPC, (Nigeria) Serious Fraud Office (UK)
- diplomatic and consular staff
This course is strictly by invitation. It is spread over two days with morning and afternoon sessions including lunch breaks. It includes lectures, simulated exercises, roundtable discussions, a black-tie dinner and networking opportunities. There is no cost of participation and conference materials will be freely distributed to invited delegates.