The Nigerian government on Thursday alleged that former President Goodluck Jonathan and other officials who worked in his government possibly hid or failed to document fraudulent payments made in the controversial Malabu oil scandal.
The government made the allegation in a fresh skeleton argument presented through its lawyers during a case management conference on Thursday.
The argument was presented on behalf of the government by attorneys representing Nigeria, including Roger Masefield, Richard Blakeley, and Ben Woolgar.
Other officials named by the government as accomplices are the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, and former Attorney General of the Federation, Bello Adoke.
Background
In May, the government had accused Mr Jonathan and Mrs Allison-Madueke of accepting bribes and breaking the country’s laws to broker the $1.3 billion oil deal in 2011.
In papers advancing the London commercial court suit against oil multinational Shell and Eni, lawyers to the Nigerian government said the officials conspired to “receive bribes and make a secret profit”, keeping the government from getting what it was owed from the deal.
“Bribes were paid. The receipt of those bribes and the participation in the scheme of said officials was in breach of their fiduciary duties and Nigerian criminal law,” the filing, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, showed.
In the court filing, obtained by this newspaper’s London partners, Finance Uncovered, the Nigerian government also sought about $3.5 billion in damages from oil giants Eni and Shell over the controversial Malabu oil deal. The government accused Eni, Shell, Malabu and other defendants of, among others, “fraud or/and bribery, dishonest assistance and unlawful means of conspiracy.”
In his reaction, Mr Jonathan, who is not under any probe on the matter, fiercely denied the allegation.
A statement by Ikechukwu Eze, media adviser to the former president, described the allegation that Mr Jonathan acted corruptly and may have received bribes as “recycled falsehood that is blatantly dishonest, cheap, and predictable.”
Unabating Scandal
The controversial Malabu scandal involves the transfer of about $1.1 billion by oil multinationals, Shell and ENI, through the Nigerian government to accounts controlled by a former Nigerian oil minister, Dan Etete.
Prosecutors alleged that half the money ($520 million) went to the accounts of companies jointly controlled by Abubakar Aliyu, popularly known in Nigeria as the owner of AA oil, and Mr Etete.
Investigators and activists suspect Mr Aliyu fronted for top officials of Mr Jonathan’s administration, as well of officials of Shell and ENI.
The transaction was authorised in 2011 by Mr Jonathan through some of his cabinet ministers, and the money was payment for the block, considered one of Nigeria’s most lucrative.
Although Shell and ENI initially claimed they did not know the money would end up with Mr Etete and his cronies, evidence has shown that claim to be false.
Shell later admitted it did know the money would go to Mr Etete. Shell, Eni, Mr Etete, Mr Aliyu and several officials of the oil firms are being prosecuted in Nigeria and Italy for their roles in the scandal.
Fresh Allegations
In the fresh argument dated July 11 and seen by PREMIUM TIMES, lawyers to the Nigerian government disclosed that it is unlikely that Mr Jonathan and others named as “perpetrators” in the controversial Malabu payment created documents reflecting the alleged fraudulent “scheme”.
The allegations were made in reaction to some lingering disputes arising from the acceptable model of disclosures between the claimant (Nigerian government) and the defendant (JP Morgan Chase).
“Even if they had, it is even less likely that they would have left them in the relevant ministry or other government repository when they left office.
“As explained in Cary2, the FRN’s solicitors, RPC, have already conducted a scoping exercise in Abuja, and have visited the relevant ministry buildings, consulting with relevant personnel.”
The lawyers argued that the result of their findings showed that there are no evidential materials to be searched on the subject matter in Nigerian government offices.
“There are no electronic documents available to be searched, because neither the FRN itself nor the relevant ministries maintained any sort of email server or electronic document storage system,” the document reads.
“The principal method of communication within the FGN at the time was a system of written memoranda and letters, which were then stored in ‘Registries’ at each of the relevant ministries. For the reasons set out in (1) above, it is implausible that the Registries will contain significant material which will assist the Court in assessing whether there was in fact a fraud on the FRN.”
Mr Jonathan could not be immediately reached Thursday night.
Mr Adoke, who has also denied wrongdoing, could not be reached for comments. Ditto Mrs Alison-Madueke.
On July 5, a Lagos Division of the Federal High Court ordered the interim forfeiture of jewellery valued at about $40 million to the Nigerian government.
The jewellery were recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in homes traced to Mrs Allison-Madueke.
