Skip to main content

Malabu Scandal: Nigerian Government Demands $1.1bn For Damages Advance From Eni, Shell In Graft Case

Nigeria on Wednesday asked a court in Milan, Italy, to order Eni and Royal Dutch Shell to pay $1.092bn as an immediate advance payment for damages in one of the oil industry’s biggest-ever corruption scandals.

Reuters reported that at a hearing into alleged corruption around the 2011 acquisition by Eni and Shell of the OPL 245 offshore field, Lucio Lucia, lawyer for the Nigerian Government, called for the advance payment ahead of a broader damages package to be set by the court at a later date.

SaharaReporters gathered that this was the first time a foreign government was asking for damages in an Italian court.


The $1.092bn is said to be the equivalent of bribes alleged to have been paid.

The Malabu scandal involves the transfer of about $1.1bn by oil multinationals, Shell and ENI, through the Nigerian Government to accounts controlled by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dan Etete.

From accounts controlled by Etete, about half the money ($520m) went to the accounts of companies jointly controlled by Abubakar Aliyu popularly known in Nigeria as the owner of AA oil, and Etete.

See Also

Corruption

EFCC Re-arraigns Malabu Oil, Seven Others For Money Laundering


Anti-corruption investigators and activists suspect that Aliyu fronted for top officials of the ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration as well as officials of Shell and ENI.

The transaction was authorised in 2011 by Jonathan through some of his cabinet ministers and the money was payment for OPL 245, one of Nigeria’s richest oil blocks.

Although Shell and ENI initially claimed they did not know the money would end up with Etete and his cronies, evidence had shown the claim to be false.

Shell later admitted that it did know the money would go to Etete.

Shell, Eni, Etete, Aliyu and several officials of the oil firms are being prosecuted in Italy for their roles in the scandal.

Corruption

Legal

Oil

News

AddThis

Original Author

SaharaReporters, New York

Disable advertisements

from 24HRSNEWS
via 24HRSNEWS



from EDUPEDIA247https://ift.tt/3hfjwUS
via EDUPEDIA

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Nigerian Academy Of Science Inducts First Female President

The Nigerian Academy of Science has inducted a professor of Parasitology/Epidemiology, Ekanem Ikpi Braide, as its 19th President on Thursday. In a statement issued by Oladoyin Odubanjo, the Executive Secretary of the Academy, Braide is the Academy’s first female President in 44 years of existence. It read, “Braide was a member of the national committee that achieved the laudable feat of guinea worm eradication in Nigeria. “She has a rich professional experience as a researcher and an administrator. In July 2010, Professor Braide was honoured by the President of Nigeria with the award of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) for her contribution to disease control in Nigeria. “She was nominated by the Honourable Minister of Health to serve in the Ministerial Expert Advisory Committee on COVID-19 Health Sector Response (MEACoC-HSR). “Professor Braide served as Vice-Chancellor, Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) Calabar, Nigeria (2004 to 2009) and as P...

NLNG Signs Letter Of Intent On Delayed Gas Expansion Project

The Nigerian Natural Liquefied Gas LTD has signed a letter of intent for the engineering, procurement and construction of its long held up Train Seven project. In a statement released by the company on Wednesday, it said that the $10bn project will be executed by a consortium of Italian firm Saipem, Japan’s Chiyoda and South Korea’s Daewoo. The statement reads, “The project will form part of the investment of over $10bn including the upstream scope of the LNG value chain, thereby boosting the much needed Foreign Direct Investment profile of Nigeria.” Managing Director of NLNG, Tony Atta, said in 2018 that the Final Investment Decision would be made in the fourth quarter of that year. This did not however, materialize. According to the release, the project will have a four to five-year execution time after the signing of the FID. The project is expected to add an extra 8 million tons per annum of gas to the 22 mtpa currently exported by the company. Oil News AddThis :...

Former Maritime Agency Boss, Buba Galadima, Accuses AMCON Of Witch-hunt After Property Takeover

  A former Director-General of the Nigeria Maritime Agency, Buba Galadima, has accused the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria of witch-hunt after the agency took possession of his business and assets on Tuesday in Abuja. Galadima, an ardent critic of President Muhammadu Buhari, claimed that he did not borrow money or have unpaid debt with Unity Bank, which lodged a complaint against him and occasioned AMCON’s move on Tuesday. The properties taken over include House No. 15, Addis Ababa Crescent, Wuse Zone 4, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and House No. 4, Bangui Street, Wuse 2, also in Abuja.  Reacting to the situation, Galadima said, “This is an attempt to disgrace and break me down. This is injustice and an attempt to humiliate me. "But I am unbreakable and they can never silence me. They sacked me and over 50 people that sleep in the apartment. "We don’t know where to go. We will remain on the streets. We will remain on the streets until God provi...