Kase Lawal and former Nigeria's attorney general, Michael Apondoakaa
The name of Houston-based Nigerian businessman, Kase Lawal, has popped up in the bloody gold-smuggling activities after the police arrested a ring of smugglers two weeks ago in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Congo has been plagued by a gruesome war in which two weeks ago.
Mr. Lawal’s brother, Mukaila Lawal (a.k.a. Mickey), was listed as a passenger in a jet that was seized after Congolese authorities found $7 million in cash and more than $20 million worth of gold that was heading out of the eastern Congo. “Mickey” Lawal runs Mr. Kase Lawal’s Nigerian operations.
Mr. Lawal was arrested after a car chase by Congolese authorities who suspected foul play and went after the group with police cruisers.
The latest revelations in the case link Kase Lawal to the group of smugglers that had a private jet that flew them to the Congo. Mr. Kase Lawal’s multi-billion dollar company, CAMAC International, leased the jet, a Gulfstream IV, from a Dallas company and sent it to the Congo for the smuggling operation.
Mr. Kase Lawal was once considered a fugitive from the law after a high court in Lagos issued an arrest warrant against him in 1999. The warrant was issued in a time that marked a boom in his businesses, especially in South Africa where he secured the assistance of ANC officials and made huge profits from an oil deal that involved Nigeria and South Africa.
In 1999, the Nigerian police fraud unit led by Nuhu Ribadu who later became the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigated Mr. Kase Lawal for being linked to the Osahon Group that was involved in stealing an oil well. Shortly after the investigations began, Mr. Lawal escaped from Nigeria
However, when the late Nigerian ruler Umaru Yar'adua came to power, Mr. Lawal maneuvered himself into prominence by becoming close to Mrs. Turai Yar'adua, the then “First Lady.” Mr. Lawal leveraged his influence with the late president's kitchen cabinet to get oil-lifting contracts. As soon as Yar'adua passed away last May, Mr. Lawal became a member of his successor, Goodluck Jonathan's, Presidential Advisory Committee.