President Putin with ex Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo
The Malabu oil scandal, which began in 1998 under the military
regime of the late General Sani Abacha, had the quartet of former
President Olusegun Obasanjo, General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau a former
National Security Adviser; Mr. Dan Etete, former Petroleum Resources
Minister; Russian President Putin and House of Representatives member,
Umar Bature as lead actors at various stages.
The transaction, which birthed the scandal, began when the Abacha
regime decided to encourage indigenous participation in the upstream
sector of the oil and gas industry. The regime allocated oil blocks to
Nigerian companies at a reduced cost of $20 million per block.
Malabu oil company, owned by Mr. Etete, was awarded OPL 245 and
made a part-payment of $2 million for a facility estimated to hold nine
billion barrels of crude oil. It subsequently brought in Shell as
technical partners. The most scandalous part of the deal was not sealed
until 2011 during the administration of former President Goodluck
Jonathan.
The transaction suffered its first hitch in 2001 when the
Obasanjo-led Federal Government revoked it. The Obasanjo administration
then invited some international oil companies (IOCs) to bid for the
block. Shell participated and won the bid. A sore Etete petitioned the
Federal House of Representatives, which conducted a public hearing and
concluded that the revocation of the transaction and sale to Shell were
in bad faith.
The House passed a resolution that OPL 245 be returned to Malabu.
The Federal Government ignored the resolution of the House, a situation
that compelled Malabu went to take legal action in a series of
litigation until 2006 when it reached an out-of-court settlement, which
was subsequently reduced to a consent judgment of the Federal High
Court, Abuja.
Shell also instituted litigation, but later decide to negotiate
directly with Etete after former President Goodluck Jonathan assumed
office in 2010.
Documents exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters from Italian
prosecutors showed that Italian company, Snamprogetti (SPA) was
convicted by a Milan court with the same facts with which Mr. Jack
Tesler, a Briton, was successfully prosecuted by the United States
Department of Justice in 2011. Mr. Tesler, who was arrested in the
United Kingdom and extradited to the United States, was identified in
the documents as a representative of a firm that received $130million
from TSKJ, an international consortium, which he paid as bribes to
high-level Nigerian government officials, including Mr. Etete.
Tesler, in a statement to the Proceeds of Corruption Unit of London
Police, admitted on circumstances related to Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL
245) controversially awarded to Malabu Oil. These include the promise
made by Mr. Umar Bature of $2million from Mr. Etete, which was a sum
that came from the price paid for OPL 25. Tesler's statement also
included the fact that the sum was with a bureau de change in Abuja.
Equally significant was that Tesler named General Gusau as the conduit
through which the bribes were delivered. The former National Security
Adviser was also mentioned in an email sent by John Copleston of Shell
to Robinson Peter, also of Shell.
The email showed that he was working
unofficially on behalf of Shell to get concessions from members of the
National Assembly discussing the Petroleum Industry Bill. Copleston
wrote that he saw Gusau on 28 July 2009 and gave assurances. He also,
according to the mail, told Copleston that Etete was ready to deal, as
the Federal Government was planning to take the oil field back from
him.
In a response to Copleston's mail, Colgate Guy of Shell said
Russian company US Rusal and Malabu met in London, with the meeting
facilitated by Gusau. The former National Security Adviser, the email
said, had met Mr. Edmond Agaev in 2008. Mr Agaev, a Russian diplomat had
worked in Nigeria and was said to be close to former President
Obasanjo, whom he brought close to President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
The story about Agaev in the deal revolves around the fact that when he
was Russian Ambassador in Colombia, President Obasanjo spent months as
his guest after he was released from prison in 1998. Agaev reportedly
facilitated several meetings between Putin and Obasanjo up till 2007.
During those meetings, Putin reportedly pressured Obasanjo to compensate
Agaev for the hospitality given to shortly after his release from
prison in 1998.
Investigations equally showed that Mr. Tesler was connected to
MegaTech Engineering, a firm to whose account the sum of $180million was
transferred on 29 August 2011 from the First Account of Malabu
(2018288005). On receipt of the sum, MegaTech issued an invoice on 23
August 2011 broadly describing the payment as "investments for the
telecommunications project in Abuja". The invoice contained wooly
details on the use of the paid sum.
The sum of $80 million was allocated
to provisions, construction and purchase of the site got $50million,
installation, insurance and cleaning was awarded $20million, while
human resources and supply of local goods was allocated $30million.
MegaTech, prosecutors established, is controlled by Monument
International Nigeria, which is in turn controlled by Monument
International, a company registered in Gibraltar.
Mr. Nurudeen Mohammed Imam, otherwise known as Nura Alkali, a
retired Air Vice Marshal and former Minister of Mines, Power and Steel
was identified as the co-principal.
Mr. Tesler, stated prosecutors, was officially mandated to act on
behalf of Monument in the purchase of a property at 39 Hyde Park,
London. He was also found to have communicated periodically with the
Gilbratar-based company. Prosecutors also found that documents at the
Corporate Affairs Commission showed that MegaTech's property purchased
in 2011 was connected to Pioneer Communications Limited, a firm
represented in the documents by Mr. Abubakar Aliyu, who was also the
representative of other companies, which got most of the money Malabu
paid to Eni.
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Via SaharaReporters
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