His sources of funds for the investments are also not known. He did not reply to written questions emailed to him weeks ahead of this publication.Mr Bello-Koko’s Marney Limited and Coulwood Limited were among nine companies apparently placed under watch by the Financial Investigation Agency , the regulator in the British Virgin Islands.
Alcogal then told FIA that the nine companies “do not have any bank accounts or assets held in their name.” But this claim is contradicted by our findings – and at least for Mr Bello-Koko’s Marney and Coulwood, Alcogal only misled the FIA. As we found from UK Land Registry, Mr Bello-Koko and his wife own four London properties at the time of the correspondence in January 2017 and the fifth was added in May of that year.
Mr Bello-Koko apparently complied. In a March 30, 2017 correspondence, Alcogal sent “updated KYC documents” for Coulwood and Marney, attaching Mr Bello-Koko’s Nigerian passport information page and reference letter from the First Bank Limited. First Bank and Alcogal failed to provide to BVI authorities information on Mr Bello-Koko’s true identity as a Nigerian public servant and therefore a politically exposed person. They also failed to disclose that his companies Marney and Couldwood own London properties. That way, he was able to stave off a possible investigation of the source of bis money.