Report in Reuters
is indicting some top ranking Nigerian officials over allegation bothering on
how more than half of $1.1 billion was collected as bribe, and lavished on jets
and armoured cars.
According to the letter seeking the help of UK’s Crown
Prosecution Service (CPS) to freeze the assets of those involved, Italian
prosecutors said some of the N83 billion ($533 million) slush money was used to
buy private jets and armoured vehicles.
“We are investigating many money transfers to many people in
various countries who received sums that vary from millions of dollars to
thousands of dollars,” Italian prosecutors told Reuters.
British prosecutors acting on the request have already frozen
two accounts with combined sum of N29.5 billion ($190 million) allegedly
belonging to the chief intermediary, Emeka Obi.
A former minister of petroleum, who was convicted for money
laundering in France, Dan Etete, owns Malabu Oil and Gas. The company was
allegedly incorporated five days before the oil block was awarded to it in 1998
during the regime of late military dictator, Sani Abacha.
While trying to cover his link with the company, Etete
registered the company with a fictitious director, Kweku Amafegha. The company
also allegedly listed a fake address in the registration documents.
Etete confessed to a British court in 2013 that former
President, Olusegun Obasanjo, demanded a slice of the oil block as bribe.
The federal government acted as a conduit for the fund after Shell and Eni raised concerns over transferring the money directly to Malabu due to Etete’s conviction.
The federal government acted as a conduit for the fund after Shell and Eni raised concerns over transferring the money directly to Malabu due to Etete’s conviction.
Despite overwhelming evidences showing that Shell and Eni
were aware that the money would be paid to a character with a shady background,
officials of the companies have denied any wrong doing in the affair.
For instance, prosecutors said that a senior official of
Shell had a face-to-face meeting with Etete over expensive “lunch and lots of
iced champagne” few months before the money was transferred to the Nigerian
government.
An email presented during the trial also mentioned that the
Shell official who feted with Etete would refer to someone in The Hague known
as “Peter” over the terms of the deal. Curiously, Shell’s CEO is named Peter
Voser.
The Italian prosecutors are investigating the role of Eni’s
former CEO, Paola Scaroni and his successor Claudio Descalzi, for alleged
international corruption over the scandal.
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