A British judge on Tuesday refused to release $85 million (N17 billion) to Malabu, a company controlled by Nigeria’s former Petroleum Minister, Dan Etete.
In refusing to release the money to Malabu, Justice Edis of the Southwark Crown Court declared that he was not sure the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan acted in Nigeria’s interest when it approved the transfer of the money to Malabu.
“I cannot simply assume that the Federal Government of Nigeria which was in power in 2011 and subsequently until 2015 rigorously defended the public interest of the people of Nigeria in all respects,” the judge ruled.
The Jonathan administration controversially approved the transfer of $1.092 billion from Nigeria’s JP Morgan account in London to Nigerian accounts controlled by Malabu.
The money was paid by global oil giants, Shell and ENi, for Africa’s richest oil block, OPL 245.
The former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, and the former Minister of State for Finance, Yerima Ngama, signed the documents approving the transfer to Malabu.
The deal, allegedly shaded in various layers of corruption, has been condemned by Nigerians and international transparency advocates and is being investigated by authorities in four different countries.
The $85 million was seized at the request of Italian prosecutors who are also investigating the deal. The money was the last part of the OPL 245 largesse not yet distributed.
Sensing that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration was yet to find its feet on international legal matters, Etete approached the British court and asked that the money be returned to him.
An online news medium, Premium Times, reported that at a two-day hearing that started on November 23, Etete’s lawyers argued that there was no fraud in the deal and asked that the money be released to him.
While Etete argued that the money be released to him, the Italian prosecutor argued that “their investigation could lead to a potential forfeiture of the money down the road,” a source who has followed the case and was present at the proceedings said.
Malabu’s lawyers told the court that freezing the money was an assault on Nigeria and questioned how the court could imagine that Adoke and Ngama would be a party to a corrupt deal.While giving his ruling on Tuesday, Justice Edis said while he could not say for certain if the deal was fraudulent pending conclusions of investigations, it would be inappropriate to release the money to Malabu.
“I am not making any findings of fact about misconduct by anyone. I am simply assessing the evidence before me to determine whether a restraint order should be discharged which was granted by way of MLA (Mutual Legal Assistance between the UK and Italy) to support an investigation by the Italian authorities,” the judge said.
The judge also made reference to evidence provided by the Italian authorities alleging that ex-President Jonathan was directly involved in the fraudulent deal.
“The suggestion from the wiretaps is that “Fortunato” was implicated and I am told that this was a reference in code (not subtle) to the former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan,” the judge said.
Aliyu (Abubakar) is said to be associated with him and Aliyu received, in a way which was not transparent, $523 million of the money paid for the OPL 245 licence in August 2011.”
Fictitious companies owned by Abubakar Aliyu, a man referred to as “Mr. Corruption” by anti-graft officials, received over half ($532 million) of the total $1.092 billion.
Aliyu, a close ally of Jonathan was recently quizzed by EFCC operatives for the first time despite being a central character in the deal whose investigation was virtually stalled during the Jonathan presidency.
Reacting to the ruling, Simon Taylor of Global Witness stated that:“Given the gathering pace of the EFCC investigation in Nigeria under new leadership and a call by the Nigerian House of Representatives to cancel the deal in 2014, investors in Shell and Eni should demand to know why they were exposed to such risk.”
The UK- based Global Witness has been at the forefront of the demand for transparency in the deal and other similar deals across the world.
Also reacting to the judgment, Dotun Oloko, an anti-corruption campaigner in Nigeria said: “In light of these allegations in a UK court, the role of the senior Nigerian officials involved in this deal, including Goodluck Jonathan, must now be fully investigated.”
With the ruling, Nigerian now has the opportunity to not only claim the money but also another $110.5 million of the funds held in a Swiss bank while investigations continue.
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