Peter Obi’s travails at the Heathrow Airport in London, United Kingdom, may also be connected to his refusal to file the annual account records of Next International Limited, a firm he operates in the country, for a routine auditing process as stipulated by the UK business laws.

Recall that a PREMIUM TIMES investigation had found that the firm was struck off in September 2021 after ignoring repeated notices issued by the Companies House, an executive agency of the British government, for government-mandated checks and audits.

The report highlighted portions of the UK laws stating that a compulsory strike-off is imposed on a company by creditors or by the Companies House for non-submission of annual accounts or failure to notify Companies House about a change of official registered office address. It further said that once a company is struck off, its details will be removed from the Companies House register and the company ceases to exist.

According to sources, Obi’s refusal to surrender his firm’s finances to the government’s searchlight may be related to the PANDORA PAPERS leak which occurred in the same year and which detailed how government officials and political figures, including Obi, concealed proceeds of shady deals, received kickbacks and laundered ill-begotten funds through a network of firms domiciled in different parts of Europe, including the United Kingdom.

The intel derived from the leak has strengthened the institutional capacity of Europe’s anti-money laundering units to trace, detect, and flag illegal cash flows into and within the continent. This knowledge has increased the dread of actors responsible for the act and many have taken moves to either move their funds to a safer haven or temporarily halt transactions that may cause suspicion and set the authorities on their trail.

To analyse the situation, a UK business lawyer was contacted and he told the publication that, “the dots are there to connect and it makes for a plausible story that a man whose firm was de-listed for refusing to comply with UK audit laws, and who was also a prominent mention in a most damaging leak about how corrupt individuals use Europe as a conduit and treasure box for stolen wealth, is now having difficulty travelling into the UK.”

“Any number of things could be happening. The de-listing of his business means that the entity must discontinue operations. Failure to do that could warrant an investigation and possible charge. There is also the possibility of obstruction if the audit is considered a step in piecing together the puzzle of illicit cash flows,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, Peter Obi has also raised eyebrows with the series of campaign fund-raisers he hosted in the United Kingdom and across the pond in the United States of America. Although Nigeria is lax about campaign finance regulations, it remains a serious issue in the UK and America. For example, former President Trump was recently indicted over accusations that he misrepresented details of expenses made from his campaign account, and former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson continues to face questions over his handling of large campaign donations received from donors, including a controversial renovation project carried out at the official residence.

It remains unclear whether Obi acted in compliance with the stringent laws surrounding fund-raising in the country, especially for political purposes whether local or foreign. Recall that the former Anambra governor raised dust when he embarked on a campaign tour in Europe and America during which he was widely reported to have billed attendees staggering amount in ticket prices to watch him speak, in collaboration with organizers who were citizens of the UK, America, and Germany.

There has been no transparent account of how the funds clawed from the event and other fund-raising efforts were managed. Back home in Nigeria, infighting recently broke out in the Labour Party over leadership control, with a different faction accusing Obi and his henchmen of looting and mismanaging party funds. Also, earlier before the election, members of at least two state chapters of the party wrote a public letter demanding the removal of their chairmen, including national figures such as Doyin Okupe, over corruption and embezzlement.

Mr Okupe, the Director-General of the Obi campaign, was disgraced from his position after he was found guilty of money laundering by a Nigerian court. These events have formed a dark cloud around Obi and made him a subject of local and foreign investigation, sources claim.

Another related factor that may have caused Obi’s Easter ordeal is his suspicious links to Bishop David Oyedepo, the founder of the Living Faith Church, who remains banned from entering the UK over alleged money laundering and criminal assault. Bishop Oyedepo was blacklisted by the UK authorities over sundry allegations, including tax evasion involving a sum reported to be around £16 Million. Recently, an audio leak exposed his collaboration with Obi in the execution of divisive campaign antics involving the spread of targeted messages to Christians seeking to persuade them to view the electoral contest as a “religious war.”

There are indications that the West may have more details about the dark collaboration between the candidate, who is suspected of operating illegal businesses and bank accounts abroad, and the brash cleric who is banned from the UK on the account of tax evasion and other suspicious transfer of funds. This is corroborated by a recent leak at the US Pentagon which showed that the Americans surveilled relevant actors in the Nigerian election and obtained intel from communication taps, including phone calls.


https://podiumreporters.com/index.php/2023/04/13/non-compliance-with-uk-audit-regulations-shady-campaign-transactions-other-reasons-obi-spent-easter-in-detention/

According to sources, Obi’s refusal to surrender his firm’s finances to the government’s searchlight may be related to the PANDORA PAPERS leak which occurred in the same year and which detailed how government officials and political figures, including Obi, concealed proceeds of shady deals, received kickbacks and laundered ill-begotten funds through a network of firms domiciled in different parts of Europe, including the United Kingdom.

Saint Obi in the mud.

Soooo

All hail saint Obi,the lord of obi-diots. In the den of thieves, no man is clean!!!

Lol

Nonsensical write up

Epistasis:
All hail saint Obi,the lord of obi-diots. In the den of thieves, no man is clean!!!

A pig is still different from a dog

Podium reporters is the media wing of DRUG DADDY Tinubu.

The website is headquartes of fake news ran by a BUSH MAN.

Tinubu DRUG supporters can never be intelligent. Peter Obi resigned as director of NEXT in 2008.

RamseyKush:


A pig is still different from a dog

Super story.... Asiwaju na baba, the slayer of obi-diots all over the world.

Peter Obi is a criminal.

No matter how you talk am, obidunce go still tell you say na BAT dey behind the whole thing.

I never see make people dunce like this before...

Truly, our universities are rolling out rubbish in the name of graduates. They should collapse Nigerian universities into one or two and strengthen them by making them purely research based because the level of dummies these so called universities produce ehn...

Epistasis:

Super story.... Asiwaju na baba, the slayer of obi-diots all over the world.

Wait sef the $460k he forfeit na for wetin

My fear is that ObidienDs will still come and claim Tinubu bribed the government of UK and their supporters will believe them..

Made2Last:
My fear is that ObidienDs will still come and claim Tinubu bribed the government of UK and their supporters will believe them..

Shut up biko,if you have nothing to say

Oblongata:
No matter how you talk am, obidunce go still tell you say na BAT dey behind the whole thing.

I never see make people dunce like this before...

Truly, our universities are rolling out rubbish in the name of graduates. They should collapse Nigerian universities into one or two and strengthen them by making them purely research based because the level of dummies these so called universities produce ehn...

Says a self-acclaimed scholar who doesn't know that the source of a news is as important as the news itself. Emotion with zero sense.

This article is like something written by a side hustle writer / journalist. No certainty just guessing, wishing, hoping and assuming.

Is this the best propaganda machine The drug lord can buy.
You better brace up for the court proceedings instead of grasping at straws.

XY23:

Says a self-acclaimed scholar who doesn't know that the source of a news is as important as the news itself. Emotion with zero sense.

That PO wasn't detained in UK or that obidunce didn't attempt to pin it on BAT? Or did you even read my comment at all? Emotion with sour draw soup as sense 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Heyya untold pains... Well, thank God, you are able to go past your 2-word sentences today..

Jennymine:

Shut up biko,if you have nothing to say

MasterJayJay:
Podium reporters is the media wing of DRUG DADDY Tinubu.

The website is headquartes of fake news ran by a BUSH MAN.

Tinubu DRUG supporters can never be intelligent. Peter Obi resigned as director of NEXT in 2008.

Peter Obi has been flagrantly abusing due process as well as his office as a gov. Investing state funds in a company he has interests in is the least of his acts of malfeancr that have dogged him. The difference between a tar brush and obi is the brush.

RamseyKush:


Wait sef the $460k he forfeit na for wetin

Story...the detention wey Obi dey for UK na wetin?

Epistasis:


Story...the detention wey Obi dey for UK na wetin?

Don't try to create your own happiness
You know the simple truth,You know it

RamseyKush:


Don't try to create your own happiness
You know the simple truth,You know it

The truth is... Asiwaju is on the Time's 100 most influential people in the world and another is....Obi is in detention in the UK for fraud.

Show me an osu that isn't a criminal and I would show you a pink unicorn

RamseyKush:


Wait sef the $460k he forfeit na for wetin

U.S never talk anything since una start this drug case propaganda. Una dey wish Tinubu bad, but the bad dey follow una leader. Person wey God don bless no man fit curse.

alade00:

Daft BATist alade, the writer was clearly not sure whether this case or campaign finance or something else was responsible.

Like I said, with no strong source the clown was just hoping and guessing gibberish there.

Have sense, even this particular case cannot lead to an arrest if the company itself has not been charged with any offence.
It's a matter of deregistering you i.e you have no business with you that's all.

Everything dubious, you will always see the Pandora fraud name being mentioned

Arise TV and all its staff will not end well.
Stupid people.

If you see the way they discussed BAT appearance in 100 most Influential, they struggled to obviously trivialized it ..while keeping silent about Peter OBi tax fraud in UK that led to his arrest and deportation.

The owner of arise TV will dies a painful death by special grace of God