Admin l Tuesday, January 10, 2017
NIGERIA -Former Nigerian President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, former Minister of Petroleum, Mr. Diezani Alison-Madueke have been named by Italian prosecutor to have received kickback in the $1.3 billion oil block deal granted to ENI and Royal Dutch Shell. Also named was former Petroleum Minister, Mr.Dan Etete.
AFP reported that Italian prosecutors had filed a document late last months in Milan wherein they claimed that the Chief Executive of ENI, Claudio Descalzi, and his predecessor, Paolo Scaroni, met Jonathan “in person” to thrash out the deal, which also involved former British intelligence agents working as advisors for Shell.
The prosecutors alleged that Jonathan and Diezani gained $466m converted into naira and used to grease the palms of some Nigerian government officials to facilitate the alleged shady deal.
The prosecutors alleged that another $54m was withdrawn by one Abubakar Aliyu, whom the prosecutors described as an “agent” of Jonathan.The beneficiaries of the money went on a shopping spree buying “property, aeroplanes, armoured cars,” prosecutors stated in the court papers.
According to Italian prosecutors ENI and Shell executives worked with a Nigerian businessman, Dan Etete, who was an “oil minister under the military ruler, Sani Abacha, from 1995 to 1998.”
Etete’s company, Malabu was the alleged “fraudulent holder” of the OPL 245 block, according to the court documents filed by Italian prosecutors.
The prosecutors claimed that after talks in Milan and Abuja, the oil block was bought illegally by the oil majors in contravention of domestic laws, “without competitive tendering” and with “full, unconditional exemption from all national taxes.”
To facilitate the alleged shady deal, a total of $801.5m was allegedly transferred to Etete’s Malabu accounts, out of which $466m was converted into naira and used for greasing the palms of government officials, including Jonathan and Diezani.
However, ENI and Shell have both denied wrongdoing in the transaction.
