How President Jonathan, Ministers And Cronies Shared N155 Billion From Malabu Oil Block Sale Scam-PREMIUM TIMES
Posted: May 24, 2012 - 13:40
Posted by siteadmin

caption: President Goodluck Jonathan
By Idris Akinbajo
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.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/how-president-jonathan-ministers-and-cronies-shared-n155-billion-malabu-oil-block-sale-sca

Corrupt bastard

http://247nigerianewsupdate.com/14975/

The Endless Shame and Criminal Mind of Omoyele Sowore and his Sahara Reporters
May 24, 2012  |   Filed under: News Updates  |   Posted by: admin
137
Share
Tweet0diggsdigg
My attention was drawn this morning to a predictable falsehood published in Saharareporters.com by its owner, Omoyele Sowore, which he titled “Nigerian Government Takes On Ugwuonye, Its Former Lawyer, In US Court”. The story is a predictable falsehood not only because it is false in all material respects, but also because it

calculatedly misleads the readers in directions that are self-serving to the malicious personal and fraudulent intents and purposes of the publisher, Omoyele Sowore.

Few years ago, I, Emeka Ugwuonye, began to systematically unravel cases after cases in which Sowore Omoyele blackmailed people and extorted money from them in order not to publish false stories about them. And when they refused to pay, Sowore blasted terrible stories and lies against them and their families on his Saharareporters.com. Many hapless and helpless victims fell for this and each time, Sowore smiled to the banks with money fraudulently obtained. At the same time, he claimed to be a new media man and preyed upon the unsuspecting Nigerian public. But some of the victims contacted me, seeking my views as a lawyer. The turning point was December of 2008, when Sowore targeted a Nigerian public figure for similar blackmail. Rather than pay and cry in silence, that man spoke with me. I confronted Sowore and it has been a war between good and evil since then.

At the present, I am suing Sowore in the Maryland Federal District Court for defamation. The lawsuit he deceptively referred to in his nasty publication as “Ugwuonye v. Rotimi” is actually “Ugwuonye v. Sowore/Saharareporters”, a case in which is answering questions as we speak. As he faces the prospects of owing millions of dollars in damages, Sowore and his Sahara Reporters can well be expected to pant and toss in agony and confusion. The reality is that things have changed for Sowore. It is no longer business as usual. It is no longer going to be easy blackmail money as he had gotten used to. Questions will now be asked each time he moves.  In fact, I have the transcripts of the deposition, which I conducted on Omoyele Sowore this year. When you read them, you will fully understand what a fraud Sowore and his Sahara Reporters are. He cannot even admit to his readers today that he was speaking about a case that was filed against him.

About three months ago, Sowore rushed and registered Sahara Reporters as a company in New York, clearly in anticipation that he may have to pay damages in the case I filed against him. I take credit for forcing Sowore and Saharareporters into the sunlight. In 2009 when I first sued Sowore, it was impossible to even identify an address for him. He had no address. There was no way to even identify who owned the domain name, Saharareporters.com. There was no registration of any sort. His activities were secrecy wrapped in secrecy. There was no business office or location. But gradually and systematically, I was able to pull him out of his underworld life of shady criminality to the open. His victims now know where to find him and where to sue him. He has to move more cautiously now. He still retains his ways, but the cost of business has gone up for him. He can no longer blackmail with much ease.

My objective and understanding of the owner of Sahara-reporters method is simple: the more I force him into the light and under the rule of law, the more his weaknesses come out. Sowore is not a journalist. He is not even intelligent enough to succeed in a fair competitive environment. The only thing that distinguishes him from the average person is his depraved criminal mentality. He is callous and he has no conscience. He needs to blackmail and lie and extort in order to sustain himself. Without those, he will be out of business in a matter of weeks. His attack against me therefore is understandably a matter of survival for him. But I can assure you that he is on a cliff as we speak. Once people learned that I had sued him, information began to come from all corners of the society. Indeed, one couple that Sowore robbed on the highway in Lagos during his days as a cult-leader in Unilag contacted me with information about their ordeal in the hands of this dangerous man.

In the cases between me and the Nigerian Government or its entities both in the US and in Nigeria, the issues involved are a matter of public knowledge. They are actually pending in courts. Every average person would know that as far as court matters are concerned, every position taken by one party has a counter from the other party. In my case, I have commenced the process of showing how the current firm that represents the Embassy of Nigeria engaged in unethical practices and conspiracy that might have caused Nigeria to lose millions of dollars. That move is definitely sending a shockwave across several important places. A sitting Nigerian Ambassador to Washington is facing yet another ignominious day when his fate would be in the abattoir. Do not expect the Ambassador to go without a fight. Also, the world is just hearing of how the Embassy of Nigeria in Washington under Ambassador Adefuye has been turned into a conduit pipe for money laundry and corruption. As we speak, about 3.5 million dollars of funds in the Nigerian Embassy accounts have been seized and blocked in the United States. That is an unprecedented action – where the Embassy is now facing a criminal investigation in the US. The Embassy of Nigeria knows that if anyone is to hold them accountable, Emeka Ugwuonye is the one. A death wish from the Ambassador is therefore understandable. And the convenient use of a desperado like Sowore/Saharereporters.com is clearly within the realm of their shallow logic.

My belief is that the readers of Sahara Reporters are not really as uninformed or as stupid as Sowore believes them to be. Many have the capacity to think. And when they do, they see the packaged junk and the trash that is called Sahara Reporters, like the person who called me this morning after reading Sahara Reporters story on me. He was totally pissed by the brazen daftness behind the story. For those interested in reading more about what is truly going on in court against Sowore and his Saharareporters, I would assure you that you will have a field day soon.

Emeka Ugwuonye, Esquire