Malabu Oil Deal Under Investigation In UK Nigeria can meet all its infrastructure costs free of additional budgetary costs and to the relief of its citizens if there is some political will. Should all the deals that do not go through due process be investigated and all participants fined heavily and assets confiscated and re-auctioned!!! This will deter companies that collude with corrupt government officials to win bids and contracts unethically and may even lead to name and shame. That should be the role of #ICPC and #EFCC when we get credible rulers. We could actually start with the malabu case. The investigation by the UK government was disclosed in Abuja by officials of the UK government during the submission of a letter written to the British prime minister, David Cameron, by global transparency advocacy groups Publish What You Pay (PWYP) and Zero Corruption Coalition (ZCC) seeking full investigation into the activities of indicted companies and individuals in the procurement of the OPL 245 in Nigeria. The Proceeds Of Crime Unit is backed by the Proceed of Crime Act 2002, an Act of the Parliament of the UK which provides for confiscation or civil recovery of the proceeds from crime and contains the principal money laundering legislation in the UK. In the letter addressed to the UK prime minister and copied the secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs, William Hague, and the secretary of state for international development, Justine Greening, the anti-corruption advocacy groups requested the UK government to support a full investigation of the OPL 245 case. The group argued that the matter concerns a company listed on the UK as well as money flowing through the UK banking system. The letter, dated July 5, 2013, a copy of which was exclusively obtained by LEADERSHIP, reads in part: “We have urgent concerns that while the UK government champions essential transparency initiative, companies involved in questionable and obscure deal-making are not being held to account for their role in the loss of hundreds of millions of pounds of revenue, money that should be used for development. “Nigerians are highly concerned about the role of Royal Dutch Shell, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, in the purchase in 2011 of the OPL 245 oil block in Nigeria. As a result of this deal made by Shell with Italian company ENI and the Nigerian government, $800 million of Shell/Eni money has made its way through London branch of JP Morgan Chase to Malabu Oil and Gas, a company substantially owned and controlled by Chief Dan Etete, a convicted money launderer.” The letter jointly signed by Nwadishi and Babatunde Oluajo for ZCC added: “Your leadership on this issue is essential and would represent a strong and specific complement to the UK’s G8 priorities and the UK’s transparency agenda.” But the representative of the British high commissioner to Nigeria, political secretary Edward Dunn, who received the letter in Abuja on behalf of the prime minister, on July 10, 2013, informed the advocacy group that the OPL 245 case was already being investigated by the Proceeds of Crime Unit in the UK. Dunn said the investigation had been passed to the Unit, stating that he could not comment more on the matter, since findings from the investigation were being awaited. “There is little we can say since there is an ongoing investigation. We can only sit back and let the investigators do their job,” he said. Also present at the meeting with the PWYP coalition was a representative of the Department for International Development (DFID), country economist Richard Ough. The officials, who noted that although the controversial oil block was allocated in the military era, said going forward there should be a process in place to make such allocations more transparent in order to rid the system of opacity. “It is good for a more long-term investment purpose for Nigeria to have a more open oil sector,” Ough said. He added that “if all the lost resources were put in the Sovereign Wealth Fund and managed properly, it would be better for the future generations.” He added that in whatever way the government wants to address the issue of transparency in oil block allocation, whether through the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), it would be better “because the risk is that Nigeria loses lots of revenue which end up in private pockets.” The officials, who restated the UK’s commitment to supporting Nigeria, said anything the UK can do to further support Nigeria in oil, gas and other mineral resources for the betterment of the country is what it is looking to do. Earlier, the national coordinator of PWYP Nigeria, Faith Nwadishi, pointed out that functioning transparency framework will plug the lid and save Nigeria billions of dollars currently siphoned through illegal oil theft, shady contracts and disappearance or revenue flows. “We are determined to tackle the problem of beneficial ownership/identity under which identity of companies are hidden, thus allowing individuals to engage in abuse of office and/or violate national laws,” she said. Malabu Oil Deal: I have been cleared by Reps, Adoke tells UK group Surprisingly, contrary to the public knowledge that the House of Representatives committee, which investigated the transaction involving the federal government and Shell/Agip companies on Malabu Oil and Gas in respect of the sale of oil block OPL 245 just submitted its report to the House last week Tuesday, the attorney-general of the federation (AGF) and minister of justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN), has told an anti-corruption group in the United Kingdom (UK), Global Witness, that as far back as May 20, 2013, he has been vindicated by the House of Reps. LEADERSHIP investigation revealed that the anti-graft group had on May 1, 2013, written the minister of finance and the coordinating minister for the economy, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, demanding an immediate action to recover the controversial $215 million assets being disputed by EVP and Malabu. Okonjo-Iweala in her reply dated May 19, 2013, sent Adoke a copy, which warranted his (Adoke’s) response to the anti-corruption group in a letter dated May 20, 2013, and addressed to Somin Taylor, Global Witness, 5th floor, Buchanan House, 30 Holborn, London ECIN 2HS, United Kingdom. In the said letter, exclusively obtained by LEADERSHIP and entitled “Re: Matters arising from the sale of OPL 245 oil concession: Request for immediate action to recover the $215million of assets being disputed by EVP and Malabu and that are currently frozen in the UK high court”, the AGF claimed that the House of Reps’ probe committee was satisfied with the transaction and there was no infraction on the constitution or any other Nigerian law. In the said letter, Adoke claimed that the transaction in question was transparent in every material particular and that it did not violate the constitution and/or any applicable extant laws in Nigeria. Adoke said, “I also wish to draw your attention to the fact that the signature bonus, which the transaction attracted, was duly paid to the Federal Government of Nigeria in accordance with the law. “In view of the foregoing, I wish to reiterate that the settlement relating to OPL 245 did not breach the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and/or any extant law. The transaction was completely transparent and received the approval of relevant authorities and persons. “You may wish to note that the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria had instituted a probe into the transaction and, at the end, they were satisfied that there was no infraction on the constitution or any other Nigerian law. “While I thank you for the concern shown in respect of the transaction, I wish to state that since the OPL 245 resolution agreement did not breach the constitution or any extant law and was approved by all relevant authorities and persons, I am therefore unable to justify the call for investigation of the officials of the Ministry of Finance or indeed any other person or authority.” The letter added: “Let me reiterate for the avoidance of doubt that Nigeria Agip/Shell had transferred the sum of $1,092,040,000 to J.P. Morgan under a depository agreement between the Federal Government of Nigeria and J.P. Morgan pursuant to block 245 resolution agreement dated 29th April 2011. Under the said agreement, the sum of $1,092,040,000 was to be paid to Malabu Oil and Gas limited (Malabu) by J.P. Morgan on the instructions of the Federal Government of Nigeria.” No, report yet to be debated, says Reps But the report was laid before the House of Representatives last Tuesday by the chairman of the ad-hoc committee, and is yet to be debated upon. In the 70 -page report exclusively obtained by LEADERSHIP, the ad-hoc committee disclosed that contrary to claims by the AGF before the committee that the federal government only played the role of an obligor, documents before the committee showed otherwise. The committee also called for outright cancellation of the handover of the oil block to Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNEPCO (50 per cent ownership) and Agip (50 per cent ownership) for being based on a flawed agreement with Malabu Oil and Gas Company. In its findings, the lawmakers said, “the issue of OPL 245 borders on a dispute of ownership between Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd, SNUD (Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep) and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which by extension is the NNPC. No other parties are known to be part of the said dispute. We therefore conclude that the resolution agreement, if any, should be between these three parties".
Posted on: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 16:04:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015