How President Jonathan, Ministers And Cronies Shared N155 Billion From Malabu Oil Block Sale Scam-PREMIUM TIMES

The presidency, his associates and some ministers have
been named in a monumental money laundering scandal,
one of the most elaborate in Nigeria’s history.
PREMIUM TIMES can reveal today that the N155billion
secretly paid to convicted money launderer, Dan Etete, by
the Federal Government, on the orders of President
Goodluck Jonathan, was actually a slush fund, with a huge
chunk of it ending in bank accounts of cronies and
business associates of government officials and at least
one individual with links to Mr. Jonathan.
Our investigation also indicates that in order to cover up
what is clearly one of the most elaborate corruption
schemes in Nigeria’s history, the president tapped the
junior minister in the finance ministry, Yerima Ngama,
and Attorney General Mohammed Adoke to hurriedly
transfer the funds to Mr. Etete on August 16, 2011, a day
before the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
assumed office.
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala was not available Friday to comment
on her knowledge of the transaction. Her spokesperson,
Paul Nwabuikwu, said she was away in Zimbabwe on an
official engagement.
This website had on Monday reported how the Nigerian
subsidiaries of two multinational oil companies Nigeria
Agip Exploration Limited (Agip) and Shell Nigeria
Exploration and Production Company Limited (Shell) paid
$1.1billion (N155billion) to the Federal Government in
April last year for onward transmission to Malabu Oil
whose principal is Mr. Etete.
Our subsequent investigations later showed that the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had
indeed investigated the deal, concluding that the
transaction pointed at a “cloudy scene associated with
fraudulent dealings.”
The EFCC investigation also clearly established that Mr.
Etete’s Malabu only served as a money laundering
machine, as substantial parts of the funds was later
transferred to various accounts owned by “real and
artificial persons” suspected to have links with the
presidency and other government officials.
Presidency sources familiar with the matter say the EFCC
intimated President Jonathan and Mr. Adoke of its
findings.
“But I can tell you that the investigation has suffered a
setback since the presidency got wind of it,” one of our
sources said. “There is high-level complicity in the deal
and there is therefore high-level cover up. The report is
gathering dust on the president’s desk.”
Mr. Jonathan’s spokesperson, Reuben Abati, could not be
reached on his mobile telephones to comment for this
story Friday. And so also was Mr. Adoke. Mr. Ngama did
not return calls to his mobile telephone.
Relying on court papers in the United States (where some
consultants have sued Malabo for breach of contract),
checks at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and on
its own investigations, the EFCC established that “a prima
facie case of conspiracy, breach of trust, theft and money
laundering can be established against some real and
artificial persons.”
The beneficiaries
At the heart of this brazen theft of public funds is one
Abubakar Aliyu, a man whom top presidency and EFCC
sources described as “Mr. Corruption” and who has very
close business ties with Diepreiye Alamiesegha, convicted
former governor of Bayelsa state.
Mr. Alamiesegha, the self-styled governor-general of the
Ijaw nation, is the man who picked Mr. Jonathan as his
running mate in the 1999 governorship election in Bayelsa
state and whom Mr. Jonathan succeeded in office after the
former was impeached over corruption charges.
The disgraced former governor played a major role in Mr.
Jonathan’s election last year, serving as both an adviser
and a top campaign official.
Mr. Aliyu, through companies co-owned by him, received
direct payments of $523mn (N81bn) from the largesse.
Investigators believe that the businessman, introduced to
the president by Mr. Alamieyeseigha, was Mr. Jonathan’s
front in the transaction.
Mr. Aliyu is however not new to corrupt deals. One of his
companies was recently found to be involved in a shady
deal which involved the buying of a landed property from
a government agency (NITEL) for N1billion and then
reselling the same property to another government
agency (CBN) for N21billion.
He allegedly used his links with late President Musa
Yar’Adua and President Jonathan to broker the deals, and
then reportedly paid kickbacks to some government
officials.
Mr. Adoke, the current Justice Minister was named in that
deal too just as sources believe he played a major role in
the sharing of the N155billion largesse.
Sharing the money
On August 16, 2011, Mr. Adoke and the Minister of State
for Finance, Yerima Ngama, coordinated the payment of a
first tranche of $401.5million (N60billion) into a First
Bank account 2018288005 belonging to Malabu.
Another $400millionn (N60billion) was, based on the
duo’s instructions, transferred into a Malabu Bank PHB
(now Keystone bank) account 3610042472 from a Nigerian
government account with JP Morgan International Bank.
The balance of the funds was reportedly lodged into Mr.
Etete’s account with Zenith Bank.
Immediately Malabu received the money, the distribution
began. Rocky Top Resources Limited, co-owned by Mr.
Aliyu received $336 million (N50bn) from the Malabu
Keystone Bank deposit. Other companies that got money
from the Malabu curious transfers include A-Group
Construction Company, also co-owned by Mr. Aliyu. It
received $157mn (N24bn), while Novel Property and
Development Limited, also co-owned by Mr. Aliyu got $30
million (N4.5bn).
Companies not linked to Mr. Aliyu but got money from
Malabu include Mega Tech Engr Co. Ltd, which received
$180 million (N27bn) and Imperial Union Limited,
$34million (N5.1bn).
Sources say these companies, like Mr. Aliyu’s, simply
acted as fronts for political office holders, who helped to
facilitate the transfer, as they have no basis to receive
such huge sums of money from Malabu. The EFCC has
also not identified what task these companies performed
to deserve the payments.
“Reasons for this payment is yet to be ascertained,” the
commission said.
Long before the largesse was shared however, Malabu had
become a company renowned for shady deals.
A history of fraud
According to investigators, through “conspiracy, forgery,
uttering forged document, criminal misappropriation and
money laundering,” Mr. Etete and Malabu Oil had been
involved in illegalities since its formation.
Formed on April 24, 1998, Malabu Oil had three
shareholders: Mohammed Sani (Abacha, son of late
military dictator Sani Abacha), Kweku Amafagha (who was
representing Dan Etete on the board), and Hassan Hindu
(representing her husband, Hassan Lawal, a former
Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK). Mr. Sani owned
10 million of the 20 million shares in the company; Mr.
Etete six million and Mr. Hassan, four million.
Five days after the company was formed and registered at
the CAC, it got two oil blocks awarded to it by the then
military government: OPL 245 and OPL 214.
Mr. Etete was petroleum minister at the time.
Controversy however trailed the oil blocks as President
Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2001, revoked the allocations,
giving OPL 245 to Shell.
After several court cases in Nigeria and overseas between
Malabu, Shell, and the Federal Government, the oil blocks
were re-awarded to Malabu in 2010.
Scheming out Abacha
Following a secret resolution on the oil block with the
Federal Government, Mr. Etete decided to edge out Mr.
Abacha from the ownership of Malabu. It is not clear if
this is one of the conditions the Federal Government gave
to Mr. Etete during the negotiations.
However at an extraordinary general meeting of Malabu
on June 9, 2010, Mr. Abacha and a company related to
him, Pecos Energy, were removed as shareholders of
Malabu. The new owners (believed to be fronts for Mr.
Etete) became Munamuma Seidougha and Amaran
Joseph, both of whom had 10 million shares each.
These changes, the EFCC stated “gave rise to a lot of
moral and ethical question that can necessitate an
objective and full blown investigation into the matter.”
Mr. Abacha however fought back fiercely. Sensing that he
had been schemed out and aware that Mr. Etete was
already negotiating with Shell and Agip, he decided to act.
The Shell, Agip, FG, Etete conspiracy
PREMIUM TIMES learnt that Ednan Agaev, an international
counsel hired by Malabu told the Supreme Court of New
York in an affidavit that he was appointed by Malabu to
find an investor for OPL245.
“One John Coplestone of SHELL, a party to the negotiation
informed him that Mohammed Sani (Abacha) is laying
claim over OPL 245,” the EFCC stated. An AGIP official also
told Mr. Agaev that “in view of the new claim by
Mohammed Sani (Abacha), a direct deal with Malabu
would not be possible.”
Mr. Agaev then informed Mr. Etete of the new
development and suggested a way out.
To put off Mr. Sani (Abacha) from realizing his claim,
“The FGN (should) take back the oil block from Malabu,
transfer the rights to ENI AGIP/Shell and pay Malabu a
compensation from the payments made by ENI AGIP and
Shell,”
The oil companies agreed accepted the proposal. “By the
end of March 2011, the FGN seemed to have acted with
the suggestion,” the EFCC said.
This new evidence gathered by the EFCC contradicts the
claims of Shell, who through its spokesman, Precious
Okolobo, denied knowing that Malabu was to be the
recipient of its payment.
“Shell was not aware that that money was to be paid to
Malabu,” Mr. Okolobo had told PREMIUM TIMES.

#CONSENSUS 2015