According to the report doing the rounds, former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Funsho Kupolokun, acquired loads of lucrative shares between 2009 and 2014 to become a major shareholder in one of Ghana’s most expensive and lucrative hotels.
In 2016, details from the leaked Mossac Fonseca’s database, known as #PanamaPapers, revealed that the Septuagenarian, who was an aide to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, was a major shareholder of Gold Coast Resorts International Limited, an entity incorporated in the British Virgins Island in 2006.
Gold Coast Resort International Limited is the owner of the 269-room five-star Kempinski Accra Hotel. Mr Kupolokun, we revealed, had held his holdings in Gold Coast Resort with another company, Blue Chapels Investment Limited, incorporated in Mauritius, a known tax haven.
But new documents recently added to the database have shed additional light on how Mr Kupolokun, who was named director of Gold Coast Resort on August 11, 2008, acquired a collection of shares between 2009 and 2014 to become a major shareholder of the top-notch hotel.
According to the documents, on July 15, 2009, the former NNPC boss shelled out $2 million to acquire 1.8 million shares, with certificate number 3.
On February 7, 2011, Mr Kupolokun topped his holding with the acquisition of 405,000 shares valued at $502,184.70 from Bethana Investment Inc, another shareholder.
Mr Kupolokun then transferred his shares, totaling 2,205,000, to Blue Chapels Investment Limited, his Mauritius-based firm, on February 19, 2013.
Also, on September 18, 2014, Mr Kupolokun bought additional 775,195 shares which cost him $861,328.00. That brought his total share in the hotel to 2,980,195.-PremiumTimes
