Hiding the beneficial owner and the proceeds of corruption
This project examined how global anti-money laundering frameworks operate in Nigeria—and how they can be strengthened to better prevent the movement of corrupt wealth.
Targeting the Global Movement of Corrupt Wealth
The project explored how international anti-money laundering frameworks are applied in Nigeria – identifying gaps and opportunities to strengthen global efforts to disrupt illicit financial flows.
Corruption remains a major barrier to economic development – eroding public trust, deterring investment, and weakening state institutions. While global anti-money laundering (AML) initiatives have prioritised transparency as a tool to disrupt illicit financial flows, significant challenges persist in how these frameworks are applied in practice.
This project examined how international AML standards and anti-corruption frameworks operated within the Nigerian context. It investigated how legal and financial systems were used to move and conceal the proceeds of corruption, and assessed where current regulations fell short. By identifying gaps in implementation and enforcement, the research provided evidence to help strengthen both national and global efforts to detect, prevent, and disrupt the laundering of corrupt wealth.
Key Findings
- Case Tracking and Data Transparency
The research highlighted the need for a unique case identification system to link prosecutions and convictions to asset recovery. The existing system – where case numbers change as they move through different courts – created inefficiencies and hindered transparency. A unified case record would strengthen tracking and data integrity. - Centralised Data Management
Widespread inconsistencies and gaps in record-keeping underscored the urgent need for a centralised database, supported by inputs from sector-specific registries. The findings also pointed to the importance of recognising records management as a critical function within the civil service, requiring both professionalisation and resourcing. - Improving AML/CFT
The study identified weaknesses in the coordination of Nigeria’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing efforts, particularly in relation to the FATF Recommendations 1 and 2. While task forces involving multiple agencies already existed, their effectiveness depended on maintaining smaller, focused groups with clear operational mandates. Collaboration needed to go beyond participation – it required active case management and shared accountability.
Impact and Implications
This project provided practical evidence to support Nigerian authorities and anti-corruption stakeholders in strengthening the country’s response to illicit financial flows. By examining real-world cases of grand corruption alongside broader financial flow data, the research revealed how corrupt funds were channelled through formal systems and how beneficial ownership was concealed.
The findings highlighted gaps in coordination between anti-corruption agencies and pointed to opportunities for streamlining responses and enhancing data transparency. The project offered a foundation for developing simpler, more cost-effective approaches to detecting, preventing, and recovering the proceeds of corruption.
While focused on Nigeria, the insights generated held broader relevance – offering transferable lessons for other developing countries working to close regulatory loopholes and strengthen enforcement of international anti-corruption frameworks.
Evidence of Impact:
- The research contributed to ongoing policy and practitioner conversations in Nigeria and the UK. A follow-on grant was secured to engage stakeholders in Abuja, including original project participants, to assess the practical uptake of recommendations. The team planned data collection, analysis, and a follow-up workshop scheduled before July 2024 to further explore the project’s influence.
- The team also conducted analysis of financial records related to the high-profile Ibori case, which had been presented in UK courts. These insights added to the project’s broader examination of how illicit funds move through legal and financial systems.
- Findings from the research were incorporated into a final version of the report Grand Corruption in Nigeria – What Can Be Learned from a Review of Cases, presented at the 21st Cross-Border Crime Colloquium hosted virtually by the Police University College in Norway.
- In the UK, the team submitted evidence to a parliamentary consultation on how the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) should consider corruption, security, and human rights risks when promoting investment abroad.
Additionally, the researchers provided expert peer review to Open Ownership for a commissioned report on beneficial ownership transparency in trust structures.
Publications

Tracking Beneficial Ownership and the Proceeds of Corruption: Evidence from Nigeria
This project set out to answer the research question: can identification and tracking of Beneficial Ownership (BO) in Nigeria be improved to increase the likelihood of recovering the proceeds of grand corruption? Our research question necessitated an analysis of grand…

Tracking Beneficial Ownership and the Proceeds of Corruption: Evidence from Nigeria
This project set out to answer the research question: can improvements be made to the identification and tracking of Beneficial Ownership (BO) in Nigeria to increase the likelihood of recovering the proceeds of grand corruption? This executive summary lays out…

What are the current approaches and system weaknesses for successfully identifying the beneficial owner, preventing the laundering of the proceeds of corruption and aiding asset recovery?
Jackie Harvey and Sue Turner presenting for the GI-ACE Weekly Series

How should the FCDO take account of and mitigate potential inhibiting factors to investment (such as corruption, security, human rights abuses)?
Our evidence addresses the question: How should the FCDO take account of and mitigate potential inhibiting factors to investment (such as corruption, security, human rights abuses)? It is specifically focussed on the subject of corruption. Much of the global approach…

Grand Corruption in Nigeria: What can be learned from a review of cases?
Nigeria is a country of paradoxes. It has the highest economic ranking on the African continent, with a nominal GDP of $443 billion, followed by Egypt: $350 billion and South Africa: $283 billion in 2020. On the other hand, per…

Tracking Beneficial Ownership and the Proceeds of Corruption: A Puzzle of Financial Flows
There is a growing recognition that the enablers of large-scale (‘grand’) corruption lie in transnational financial networks. Literature suggests that a large proportion of illicit flows from Nigeria are invested in the UK. But illicit flows are, by their nature,…

Transnational Criminal Law: A Case Study of the International Anti-Money Laundering Framework as Applied in Nigeria, A Case of Smoke and Mirrors
This paper is based on a case study of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) framework as applied in Nigeria and has arisen from a cross-disciplinary (comprising of a team of academics and practitioners) funded research project that considers beneficial ownership as…

PODCAST: Understanding the #EndSARS Protests, Part 1: Anti-Corruption and Political Power in Nigeria
On the Declarations Human Rights Podcast, this week, in partnership with Global Integrity, we are joined by Dr. Jackie Harvey of Northumbria University and Dr. Pallavi Roy of SOAS University of London to discuss the structures of political power in…

FCDO Project Interim Report
This is an interim project report for Jackie Harvey's project based out of Nigeria. The primary focus of this anti-corruption project is on beneficial ownership (BO). BO refers to the natural person(s) who ultimately owns or controls a customer and/or…

‘Smoke and Mirrors’: Tracking Beneficial Ownership and the Proceeds of Corruption, Preliminary Evidence from Nigeria
Question: Can improvements be made to the identification and tracking of Beneficial Ownership to increase likelihood of recovering the proceeds of corruption? Jackie Harvey's project explores the nature of problem of money flows and corruption in Nigeria.
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Research Team

Jackie Harvey
Professor
Newcastle Business School
Northumbria University

Peter Sproat
Senior Lecturer
Newcastle Business School
Northumbria University

Alan Doig
Visiting Professor
Newcastle Business School
Northumbria University

Sinan Gonul
Senior Lecturer
Newcastle Business School
Northumbria University

Tony Ward
Professor
Northumbria Law School
Northumbria University

Sue Turner
Senior Lecturer
Northumbria Law School
Northumbria University

Abdullahi Shehu
Managing Director
AML/CFT Consultancy Real Services Ltd. (Abuja)

Abdullahi Bello
Managing Consultant
Abdubel Consulting Ltd. (Abuja)

Petrus C. van Duyne
Visiting Professor
Northumbria University and University of Utrecht

Jan van Koningsveld
Director of the Offshore Knowledge Centre (Netherlands)

Sam Sittlington
Director
Fraud Company