On 6 June, the UK High Court of Justice at King’s Bench Division granted a forfeiture order on a property occupied by a Nigerian woman, Abigail Katung, who became the first person of African descent to hold the position of the Lord Mayor of Leeds.
The property, occupied by Mrs Katung and her two children, was owned by Mansoor Hussain – a businessman in Leeds accused by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) of having links to serious criminals and money laundering.
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Mrs Katung is a wife of Nigerian Senator Sunday Katung. She signed a Contract of Sale agreement to purchase the property from Mr Hussain in 2015.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mrs Katung made a deposit of £400,000, of the £1,000,000 agreed, to acquire the property in 2015.
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However, the UK High Court investigated the source of £360,000 out of the initial deposit by Mrs Katung. Court documents suggested possible money laundering activities in Mrs Katung’s transaction, which was made between April and May 2015, several days after her husband’s election as a member of the House of Representatives.
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The judge questioned the shady nature of the payments made by the lawmaker’s wife and instructed Mrs Katung to provide an “adequate, documented explanation” of the whole payments she made to Mr Hussain in 2015.
But she failed to do that, the judge said.
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The court then ruled that Mrs Katung “conducted a business in foreign exchange transactions to circumvent Nigerian foreign exchange regulations and/or to avoid a punitive exchange rate.”
Despite the clear court judgement, Mr Katung defended his family against any wrongdoing on Wednesday.
You can download the certified true copy (CTC) of the judgement here to read the ruling in full.
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