ARMS DEAL: South Africa Seizes Another $5.7m from Nigeria

The Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in South Africa has seized $5.7 million for yet another arms deal between South Africa and Nigeria, reported City Press, a Johannesburg-based newspaper.

This is the second multimillion-dollar arms deal between the two countries in the past month that has resulted in the money being frozen in South African banks, for allegedly being proceeds of illegal transactions.

However, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), in a statement yesterday trying to justify the large movement of cash across borders for the purchase of arms, said the transactions were legitimate.

Documents in the newspaper’s possession showed that the earlier consignment was approved by the Nigerian government – that the country’s National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki (rtd), personally issued the end-user certificate for the transaction.

An entire “shopping list” was supplied with the certificate, which included everything from helicopters to unmanned aircraft, rockets and ammunition.

Sources close to the investigation said the latest transaction was between Cerberus Risk Solutions, an arms broker in Cape Town, and Societe D’Equipments Internationaux, a Nigerian company in Abuja.

An impeccable source said this company paid the R60 million (N1.2 billion) into Cerberus’ account at Standard Bank.

Cerberus was previously registered as a broker with the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), but the registration expired in May this year.
The marketing and contracting permits also expired at the same time. But the company has since applied for re-registration, which was in the NCACC’s mailbox for more than two months.

Sources told Rapport that Cerberus apparently tried to pay the money back to the Nigerian company, after which the bank became suspicious.

The NPA’s Asset Forfeiture Unit subsequently obtained a court order in the South Gauteng High Court to seize the money.

NPA spokesperson Nathi Mncube said there were no indications that the two transactions were related. Both are now the subject of a criminal investigation and all possible information and connections are being investigated."

Source - Thisday