The Chairwoman of Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation (OOF) Anne Welsh has been sacked after details and video footage of her involvement in money laundry activities with the foundation emerged. British non-governmental organisation watchdog the United Kingdom Charities Commission (UKCC) said they received a lot of complaints about the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation over allegations of financial misconduct and conflicts of interest.
Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation was launched in London by the formal Nigerian president to help the girl-child of Africa. Anne Welsh video footage, which was singly shot by one of the participants at a meeting in December 2014, showed how she plotted a $4.9m scheme to exploit the Ebola virus disease tragedy by helping a group of Lebanese businessmen who wished to donate money to Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation for some work in Sierra Leone. In the video, the group of businessmen said it would make a donation of $2m to the foundation if it helped it launder the balance of $2.9m.
According to the allegations against Anne, she demanded an interest of 30% of the $2.9m the Lebanese businessmen wanted to give the foundation and the video evidence shows that they agreed to pay her the sum of $900,000, detailing how the money would be transferred through a Nigerian bank which she uses. Anne has since denied any wrongdoing, however.
UKCC’s spokeswoman Sarah Hitchings, said that the commission had started a broad investigation into the matters because the foundation had violated its regulatory standards. Ms Hitchings said: “We have received complaints about this charity and issues including alleged conflicts of interest and alleged financial misconduct and we currently have an open case in relation to this charity and have been in contact with the trustees.
In reaction to the allegations, the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation forced Ms Welsh to resign and asked the Metropolitan Police and UKCC to commence investigations into the matter.
Source: NigerianWatch
