Real estate is one of the leading forms of money laundering – Patrick Doyle alleges | Pulse Nigeria

Veteran actor Patrick Doyle has raised concerns about the many empty estates in Abuja and Lekki, saying they are likely built with stolen money to store up the value.

During a recent interview on The Echooroom podcast, Doyle questioned why there are so many completed but unoccupied houses when many Nigerians struggle to find affordable homes. He then alleged that the empty, expensive homes were used for money laundering.

If you go to Abuja and Lekki, you will see many estates completed and uninhabited. If the price is too much, how come people are building and the houses remain unoccupied still? That should tell you something. It is funny. Why is it funny? Because real estate has become one of the leading forms of money laundering.

Doyle also mentioned reports of individuals owning thousands of apartments in one estate, claiming that such properties are not meant for living but for storing stolen wealth.

This is illegal money that is finding expression in the construction industry, constructing houses and real estate. It’s artificial, so I don’t understand those prices and it baffles me. It beats imagination and logic that we have so many empty completed building in a place where there’s a shortage of housing for people.

If you go to Abuja, you’d see that it’s crazy. That just tells you that people have used the money that has been stolen to build houses and store up the value in reel estate. Didn’t you hear about the man that had 7000 or so apartments in one estate in Abuja? They just store the value.