A former Minister for National Planning, Rasheed Gbadamosi, was also one of those public officers named in the Panama papers. He joins the likes of Bukola Saraki and David mark.
Gbadamosi a former boss of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency owns two expensive and luxurious penthouses in Panama, a notorious tax haven, worth $2.6 million.
Gbadamosi, writer, businessman and bureaucrat, who was recently appointed co-chairman of the Lagos at 50 planning committee, bought the two properties in 2008.
Gbadamosi was chairman of the board of PPPRA between May 2003 and December 2009.
He was chairman of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Committee (PPPRC), PPPRA’s predecessor, from March 2001 to May 2003.
According to the documents, sometime in early 2008, the former minister approached Gilberto Aleman, a Panamanian real estate broker, to help him secure two posh penthouses owned by Nicolas Corcione, owner of Ciclones Corporation Inc and Cosmopolitan Corp, the companies under which the properties were registered.
Penthouse 1, valued at N436,800,000 ($1,365,000.00), the first penthouse Gbadamosi bought, is located in Ocean Park Tower 2, and consists of a surface area of 537.33 square meters, on floors 35 and 36 of the Tower, registered under the ownership of Ciclones Corporation Inc.
The second penthouse, Penthouse 5, is located in the same building as the first, Ocean Park Tower 2. It consists of a surface area of 479.88 square meters, on the 39th floor of the building. It is registered under the ownership of Cosmopolitan Corp.
Ocean Park Tower 2, which was completed in 2006, is one of the most expensive residences in Panama City. Located within the lush, Punta Pacifica area of the city, Ocean Park Tower 2 is a 44-floor glassy skyscraper that stood at 463 feet tall.
According to Panama-guide.com, an English Language website in Panama, the building, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean, comes furnished with controlled security, high-end luxury finishing, internal jogging/walking, football field, basketball and volleyball courts.
Apart from its 70 apartments, the high-rise has seven penthouses including two master penthouses. Penthouse 1 is one of the master penthouses.
Owners of apartments within Ocean Park are exempted from paying property taxes for 20 years
In order to process the purchase, . Gbadamosi sent a scanned copy of his international passport at the time (with number A23418785) to Ramses Owens, a lawyer working for Mossack Fonseca, as part of the Know Your Customer (KYC) and compliance and identity verification process needed for drawing up the contract.
“Basically, we receive money in escrow accounts in the Bahamas, Miami and Panama. We prefer to use Bahamas or Panama. Generally, 1% is charged for the money that is handled in Escrow, plus a figure of approximately US $500 processing of contracts,” the documents revealed.
Also, in order to assuage some initial concerns raised over the background of Gbadamosi as a politically exposed person, Aleman sent an email to the seller on April 3, 2008, describing the former minister as a “very influential figure” who should be treated with respect and care.
“I understand that we must be very careful in such a large transaction, but we must not scare off customers and lawyers who often get us patrons,” Aleman wrote in Spanish. “The Lord Gbadamosi is a very influential figure in Nigeria who has been Minister of State, and today is chairman of the regulatory body for oil in Nigeria and has so much influence,” he wrote.
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