A report by Bloomberg released on Tuesday claims that company documents have revealed, that an offshore owner of an $11 million London mansion, which was targeted for confiscation as part of an investigation into one of Nigeria’s biggest corruption scandals, is controlled by the son of the country’s President-elect, Bola Tinubu.

The documents indicate that a firm owned by Tinubu’s son purchased the property in 2017. However, there is no evidence to suggest that Tinubu himself was involved in the acquisition.

President Muhammadu Buhari had visited the London property in August 2021, almost four years after the purchase was made.

Tinubu has long faced questions regarding the source of his family’s wealth, including during the recent election campaign when he and his representatives were repeatedly questioned by local and international media.

Tinubu has consistently maintained that his wealth was acquired through his inheritance of real estate, sound investments, and his previous employment as an accountant at Deloitte LLP and as an executive at the Nigerian subsidiary of Mobil Oil in the 1980s and early 1990s.

He even cited Warren Buffett as a role model for his financial success in an interview with the BBC leading up to the election.

However, recently uncovered corporate documents reveal that Tinubu’s 37-year-old son, Oluwaseyi, is the primary shareholder of Aranda Overseas Corp., an offshore company that paid £9 million ($10.8 million) to Deutsche Bank for the purchase of an extravagant three-story residence in the posh St. John’s Wood neighborhood of north London.

The property features amenities such as an eight-car driveway, electric gates, two gardens, and a gym. It is situated in an area popular among American bankers. While there is no evidence that Tinubu was involved in the acquisition of the property, the revelation is likely to fuel further questions about the source of the family’s wealth.

Despite attempts to reach out for comment, both Bola Tinubu’s spokesman and his son Oluwaseyi Tinubu have not responded to emails, phone calls, and text messages. A British lawyer listed as Aranda’s agent in the UK has also declined to comment, citing confidentiality rules.

During the time of the purchase, Nigeria’s government was pursuing the former owner of the property, Kolawole Aluko, who was accused of fleeing while owing the country a debt of over $1.5 billion in oil-trading. The state was also trying to seize the luxurious property and other assets it suspected Aluko had obtained through illicit means.

Aluko has denied all accusations of wrongdoing and claims that a court judgment earlier this year clearing his former business partner has cleared his name. However, the ruling is being contested by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency.

Bola Tinubu, aged 71, emerged victorious in the February election as the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress and is expected to succeed his political ally, President Buhari, on May 29. Tinubu played a pivotal role as a power broker in the opposition party merger that helped bring Buhari into power in 2015.

Despite President Buhari’s campaign promise to combat corruption, Nigeria’s ranking in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index has declined over the past eight years.

Bola Tinubu, who previously served as the governor of Lagos state, has faced persistent accusations of corruption and violations of the law, which he has denied.

In 1993, he relinquished $460,000 to settle a lawsuit in Chicago after US federal authorities alleged that bank accounts in his name contained the profits of heroin trafficking. Tinubu’s legal team has stated that he was never charged in connection with the case.

In August 2021, while Bola Tinubu was staying at the 7,000-square foot London home, he received a visit from President Buhari, as reported by the Lagos-based newspaper Premium Times.

According to documents obtained from the Pandora Papers leak of offshore companies data, shareholders and directors of Aranda, which purchased the London property, were Adegboyega Oyetola, the former governor of Osun state, and Elusanmi Eludoyin, the head of a Nigerian property group, from its establishment 24 years ago until at least 2010.

However, requests for comment from Oyetola’s spokesman and Eludoyin went unanswered.

The Newly-filed documents in response to UK anti-money laundering rules and viewed by Bloomberg this year revealed that Tinubu’s son, an advertising entrepreneur who played a prominent role in his father’s presidential campaign, has controlled Aranda, registered in the British Virgin Islands, since June 2011.

The company was registered as an overseas entity in the UK on January 20th.

During Buhari’s first term, his administration launched legal proceedings against Diezani Alison-Madueke, who was the oil minister for five years until 2015.

The government also took action against two businessmen, Kolawole Aluko and Olajide Omokore, who secured lucrative contracts during her tenure.

The US government filed a lawsuit for forfeiture in Texas in 2017, accusing Aluko and Omokore of bribing the minister and failing to pay the state-owned energy company for most of the crude oil they received.

Alison-Madueke, who is based in London, has denied the allegations and is challenging multiple forfeiture orders issued by Nigerian courts. She has also accused the anti-corruption agency of preventing her from defending herself in criminal proceedings.

In June 2016, a federal judge in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, granted a request by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to seize over a dozen properties owned by Aluko, both in Nigeria and abroad, including the St. John’s Wood house.

The forfeiture order was still in effect when Tinubu’s son acquired the property out of receivership 16 months later.

According to court filings, the forfeiture order granted in June 2016 against Kolawole Aluko’s assets, including the St. John’s Wood property, was made on an interim basis and was pending the conclusion of an ongoing investigation into Aluko, as of at least the end of 2018.

Aluko’s lawyer, Tokunbo Jaiye-Agoro, declined to comment on the forfeiture case, citing that it is still “sub-judice.”

In late 2016, Deutsche Bank foreclosed on the house owned by Aluko and appointed receivers to sell it. However, it is not clear whether the Nigerian government was aware of the lender’s takeover of the house as it pursued the seizure process.

According to court filings, Aluko had taken out loans using other properties as collateral. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleged that the buildings were purchased with the proceeds of crime, and that Aluko had fled the country to avoid answering the fraud allegations against him.

In February, a Nigerian court acquitted Olajide Omokore of charges related to the same allegations. However, the EFCC, which accused Omokore of defrauding the state energy firm of $1.6 billion, has said it will appeal.

Aluko was removed from the indictment because he was not in the country at the time, and his current whereabouts are unknown.

Meanwhile, Omokore’s lawyer has objected to any continued linking of his client’s name to corrupt practices.

The Nigerian government officials, including Buhari’s spokesman, the Attorney General, the Nigerian National Petroleum Co. Ltd., and the EFCC, did not respond to requests for comment.

In October 2017, Tinubu’s son’s company, Aranda, bought one of the properties that was being targeted by the Nigerian government in its pursuit of Aluko and his assets.

The property in question is still owned by Aranda, and according to UK land records, there is currently no mortgage registered to it.

Aranda did not purchase the house directly from Aluko but from a UK unit of Deutsche Bank AG. The bank had foreclosed on the property and appointed receivers to sell it a year earlier.

Aluko had acquired the mansion via a BVI company in 2013 and paid £11.95 million, according to Premium Times. Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the matter.

It’s worth noting that the property in question is not the only luxury asset that Aluko has been linked to. In 2017, the US Department of Justice accused him and Omokore of using illicit funds to buy a $50 million penthouse in New York, a $80 million yacht, and several other assets.

According to Aluko’s lawyer, Jaiye-Agoro, his client has no knowledge of Aranda or the individuals behind the company and was not aware of the sale of the property, as Deutsche Bank had foreclosed on the house.

It is unclear whether the Nigerian authorities had requested the UK’s National Crime Agency to freeze the property.

The UK Home Office declined to comment on the matter. In March 2021, the US Justice Department announced that it had seized assets worth over $53 million, including a 65-meter superyacht and luxury homes in California and New York, purchased by Aluko for more than $160 million using what it considers to be the proceeds of corruption.