Based in London, Ms Welsh, was the chief executive of the foundation launched by former Nigerian president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to help the girl-child. However, she was caught on film showing that she had been involved in money laundering activities for many years, leading to her immediate sacking and the former president asking the police to investigate her.
Ms Welsh, a former investment banker, met the former president during a conference in Brussels, Belgium in 2011 when she was the chairperson of the Sickle Cell Society. Video footage, which was discreetly shot by one of the participants at a United Kingdom meeting in December 2014, showed how Ms Welsh plotted a $4.9m scheme to exploit the ebola virus disease tragedy by helping a group of Lebanese businessmen who wished to donate money to Obasanjo Foundation for some work in Sierra Leone.
In the video, the group demanded that it would make a donation of $2m to the foundation if it helped it launder the balance of $2.9m. Ms Welsh assured the potential donors that it would not be a problem as she was well-grounded in the art of being discreet.
She added: “I had to go through training, through President Obasanjo, political training for one year to become discreet. Sometimes, we get dollars from people who give money to our foundation and they say they don’t want it to be known that they donated the money but they want to have a letter on our letterhead paper and a letter from Obasanjo just to say thank you for your kind donations to the foundation for the work to support ebola."
However, the group told her they did not care how the money given to the foundation was spent as long as their interest was protected. Ms Welsh then demanded an interest of 30% of the $2.9m and the video evidence shows that they agreed to give her the sum of $900,000, detailing how the money would be transferred via a Nigerian bank which she uses.
In reaction to the allegations, the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation forced Ms Welsh to resign and launched a full-scale investigation into the matter. Chief Obasanjo said that he and other trustees of the foundation were deeply saddened and disturbed by the allegations against Ms Welsh.
He added that the matter had been reported to the London Metropolitan Police and the UK Charity Commission for a thorough probe. Ms Welsh confirmed details of the meeting, stating that she was indeed present but denied that any wrongdoing took place.
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