In the middle of the shady deal is a Nigerian oil
and gas company, Sarb Energy, which acted as
a dodgy middleman in a non-transparent
government-to-government crude oil sale
between the Nigerian and the Zambian
governments.
Sarb Energy, incorporated on September 19,
2008, was specifically established for the
controversial deal.
This newspaper has established that Sarb
Energy has link with at least one political
associate of former President Jonathan, whose
five-year reign as leader of Africa’s largest oil
producer was characterized by allegations of
massive corruption, especially in the oil and gas
sector.
The company’s directors at inception, according
to records at the Corporate Affairs Commission,
were Nimi Barigha-Amange, a former Peoples
Democratic Party’s senator from Bayelsa
(2007-2011), who also served as director of
planning, research and strategy for Mr.
Jonathan’s re-election campaign in 2014; Sylva
Ogbogu, a retired Brigadier General; Akpan
Ekpene, the managing director of the company,
who executed the deal; and Ogba Properties
and Investment Company Limited, a company
whose real ownership remained unclear.
For months, PREMIUM TIMES was unable to
obtain its records at the CAC.


The crude oil deal
In a testimony he gave at a Zambian court, Mr.
Ekpene said he sold the idea of the
government-to-government crude oil deal to
the Zambian government in 2008, which then
gave his company, Sarb, a power of attorney to
execute the contract on its behalf.
Under the deal signed with the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation, the Zambian
government was to lift eight million barrels of
crude oil worth N155.4 billion ($969.6million).
After the deal was sealed on April 20, 2011,
Sarb made an initial deposit of $2.5million to
the NNPC in the name of the Zambian
government.
Rather than Sarb importing the crude for use of
the Zambian government at home, it was
agreed that the company would sell the
commodity to other traders, split profit 50-50
with the government and then remit the
Zambian government’s share to official
administration accounts.
But that didn’t happen. What indeed happened
was that the Nigerians sold the crude and failed
to make payments into Zambian government
accounts.
Instead, according to Mr. Ekpene, parts of the
proceeds were diverted into an account held by
Iexoria, a Singapore-based company allegedly
controlled by Henry Banda, the Zambian
president’s son.
No evidence has emerged till date indicating
that Zambia received any revenue from the
deal.
The deal sparked controversy in Zambia, with
former President Rupiah Banda charged with
multiple violations of that country’s anti-
corruption laws.
In his testimony during the trial, Mr. Ekpene
claimed the proceeds of the deal were passed
directly to Mr. Banda and his family.
The Sarb managing director told the court that
his company made two wire transfers worth
$550,000 from its Access Bank account in
Nigeria to a Barclays Bank account in Singapore
owned by Iexoria.
Henry Banda, the Zambian president’s son,
controlled Iexoria. Both transfers were made
before that country’s September 2011 general
elections, when Mr. Banda was still president.
A fake consultancy contract was then drawn up
between Sarb and Iexoria to support the
payments, stating that Iexoria was supposed to
carry out a feasibility study for a power plant.
Mr. Ekpene admitted in court the contract was a
ruse as no such feasibility study was done. He
said that approach was adopted to deceive
Access Bank into authorizing the transfers.
He claimed that he also gave Mr. Banda
$500,000 through his son Henry, to boost his
election campaign. He said that was after Mr.
Banda requested $1 million advance payment
from the government-to-government oil deal.
Mr. Ekpene also told the court that he helped
Banda with campaign materials, which he
transported from Nigeria to Zambia, during a
trip in which he admitted concealing $260, 000
cash in his luggage.
He said he handed over the cash to Banda at
the Government House for his use in the 2008
campaigns.
He said he made the donation to President
Banda because the intermediary in the crude
lifting deal, Major Richard Kachingwe, allegedly
insisted that they needed to support him to win
reelection.
Mr. Ekpene may have, however, lied under oath
in court during the Banda trial when he said
only 5.7 million barrels of crude were shipped
out of Nigeria in the deal, with the last cargo
loading in December 2012.
PREMIUM TIMES found, from NNPC and
Finance Ministry records, that 11 cargoes,
carrying more than eight million barrels, were
lifted in respect of the deal.
Insiders say Sarb Energy continued to lift from
the NNPC even when the Zambian authorities
believed the deal had ended.
The Magistrate’s Court in Lusaka, the Zambian
capital, however acquitted Mr. Banda in June
2015, saying the prosecution failed to prove its
case that the former leader violated Section
99(1) of the Zambian Penal Code.
No progress with investigation in Nigeria
Even though Sarb and its official, Mr. Ekpene,
made startling confessions in court in Zambia,
including admitting laundering funds out of the
country, it does not appear investigation is
making progress in Nigeria.
Mr. Ekpene claimed in court that Nigeria’s
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
looked into the contract in May 2013.
But no enforcement action has so far been
taken.
The spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson
Uwujaren, said he was not aware that any such
investigation was ongoing. He promised to
crosscheck with the agency’s investigators and
then revert to PREMIUM TIMES.
The spokesperson for the NNPC, Ohi Alegbe,
could not be reached Monday.
When contacted by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr.
Barigha-Amange, the PDP politician, directed all
enquiries on the matter to Mr. Ekpene, the
managing director of the company.
“I don’t know much about this matter,” the
former senator said. “Only the MD can talk
about it.”
Mr. Ekpene however declined to comment. He
did not answer or return calls. He also did not
respond to an email sent to him more than a
month ago.
Below is a record of the crude oil liftings in the
deal, as shown by market intelligence data.







www.saharareporters.com/2015/11/02/jonathans-campaign-chief-others-divert-n155bn-crude-oil-money-corrupt-zambian-officials.com