The bank’s 1997 client profile for Ibrahim and Mohammed Abacha, two sons of the then president of Nigeria (and of the woman who gained enduring fame in the most legendary of all the 419 scams), quite openly stated: “wealth comes from father who accumulated wealth as head of state of major oil producing country.” The 1996 file on Omar Bongo, president of Gabon from 1967 to 2009, was even more straightforward: “Source of Wealth: self-made as a result of position. Country is an oil producer.”
