Ibime: GEJ doing what he does best. . .

The Federal Government has refused to explain the role played by President Goodluck Jonathan and other government officials in a scandal allegedly involving government officials, Shell, ENI subsidiaries in Nigeria, a Nigerian oil firm and a former petroleum minister. However, on Thursday, the civil society and opposition parties criticized government’s silence, while also calling for a probe.

A report by the United States-based anti-corruption NGO, Global Witness, had said that Nigerian subsidiaries of both Shell and ENI agreed to pay $1.092bn to the Federal Government for oil block OPL 245.

The report entitled, “Shell’s obscure payments kill its case for weak US and EU transparency laws”, further alleged that the Federal Government then paid the entire N155bn to Malabu Oil and Gas, a company owned by Mr. Dan Etete, a former oil minister under the late General Sani Abacha.

An online news medium, PREMIUM TIMES, in a follow up on its earlier version of a report on Thursday, had stated that money was paid on the order of Jonathan.

It also alleged that the money was a slush fund, “with a huge chunk of it ending in bank accounts of cronies and business associates of government officials.”

Global Witness said documents in a New York court, stated that “…it does appear that the FGN (Federal Government of Nigeria) was indeed the proverbial “straw man” holding $1.1bn for ultimate payment to Malabu.”

Experts describe the process as round-tripping, adding that it is a tool widely used by corrupt government officials and businessmen for money laundering and tax evasion.

Efforts to get the President’s spokesman, Dr. Ruben Abati’s reaction to the money laundering allegation on Thursday were not successful, despite the sensitive nature of the allegation.

When called, Abati did not pick his mobile phone neither did he respond to an SMS send to him, asking for the Presidency’s reaction on the matter.

The report alleged that the President had instructed the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama, and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke (SAN) to pay the money to Malabu.

When contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to the Minister of State for Finance, Mallam M. Nakoji, said he could not comment on the N155bn money laundering controversy since he was not familiar with the issue.

He said the minister could not be reached because he (Ngama) was in Port-Harcourt attending a meeting.

He, however, promised to get the response of the minister on Friday. Repeated calls put across to the minister was not picked. Similarly, a text message sent to him at 4:03pm was not replied.

Also, efforts to get a reaction from the AGF were not successful as at the time of filing this report.

Our correspondent could not see the Minister when he called at his office in the Ministry of Justice.

The AGF’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Ambrose Momoh, who was also not in the office at the time our correspondent visited, did not respond to calls on his mobile telephone. A text message sent to him was not replied.

Similarly, Shell failed to address the issue of the fraud involved when contacted for comments by one of our correspondents on Thursday. The oil giant said in line with its information policy, it could not reveal commercially sensitive information. It also added that it could not comment further on the papers filed in the New York court proceedings.

“Shell remains committed to the principles of disclosure as set forth by the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative and in April 2012, we have published details of payments made to governments in 2011 of some of the main countries where we operate,” it added.

Shell, described the details of the agreement between Agip, the Federal Government and Shell as the settlement of various commercial and legal issues.

Also, Agip (ENI) refused to make comments when contacted on the telephone by the correspondent. Its spokesperson, Mr. Tajudeen Adigun, referred our correspondent to the Federal Government, saying the Federal Government was in a better situation to explain developments from the deal.

The EFCC, which was reported to have investigated the allegation also refused not comment on it on Thursday.

When contacted, the spokesperson of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, told our correspondent that he was yet to get confirmation from the appropriate authority but promised to “get back.”

He said, “The person is not available and I can’t reach him at the moment. I can’t reach those that would give you confirmation. But if I am able to do that before it is too late, I will let you know.”

Amidst the unexpected silence from the various interests concerned, including the Federal Government, Shell and ENI, among others, civil rights groups took the gauntlet on Thursday, decrying the discomforting silence. The groups and prominent Nigerians said the scandal was indicative of the administration’s nonchalance to the fight against corruption.

Condemning the payments, the Congress for Progressive Change, said that the Jonathan administration was more concerned about looting than governance.

The CPC spokesman, Rotimi Fashakin, in an SMS to one of our correspondents, stated, “After the death of Abacha, much noise was made on the tens of billions of naira that later became known as the Abacha loot.

“Little did we realize that successive PDP governments would dwarf his records in mindless rapaciousness and kleptomaniac impudence. But in all these sleazy records, this Jonathan administration beats them all. No inspiring governance, only looting.”

Also, the Campaign for Democracy president, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, said that with the money laundering allegation, the Jonathan government had taken corruption to a new height.

“It is now one day one scandal for the government. That not one person has resigned in all the mind boggling corruption scandals under Jonathan shows that the commander-in-chief is friendly with corruption and it is so sad,” she said.

Condemning the Federal Government, Executive Director, African Network for Environmental and Economic Justice, Rev. David Ugolor, stated that there was no lack of transparency in the oil and gas sector industry in Nigeria.

According to him, the Presidency must take responsibility for the absence of transparency in the industry.

He stated, “If the petroleum resources minister continues to have discretionary powers without recourse to the National Assembly, we will continue to see this kind of problem.

“This is why they don’t want the sector to be reformed. This is only one of the many corrupt cases. We have been asking question about the renewal of a contract for Exxon Mobil and there has not been any response.

“You recall that during the nationwide demonstration in January, the President promised to reform the oil industry. He said he was going to ensure the quick passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill. What has happened since then?”

Ugolor called for a public hearing on the money laundering allegation, adding that the EFCC must probe the issue.

He stated, “What we are seeing now is just a tip of the iceberg. Lack of transparency has been the bane of oil and gas operations in the country. We also want the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to be involved in the probe. This is the way to end the culture of impunity in Nigeria.”

Also, a former governor of Kaduna State and leader of the umbrella body of the opposition parties in Nigeria, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, simply noted that he was not surprised Jonathan could be named in such act.

According to him, it was impossible for anybody in Nigeria to become president or governor without pilfering the nation’s treasury.

He said, “I am not surprise. I would have been surprised if the reverse was the case. You know I have always maintained that all Nigerian leaders are thieves. I doubt if it is possible for somebody who is not a thief to be president or governor in Nigeria under the present circumstances. So I am not surprised.”

oyb:

http://www.punchng.com/news/jonathan-silent-on-role-in-n155bn-oil-scandal/

buuuump

where is the brigade of apologists for the gej govt?

“Little did we realize that successive PDP governments would dwarf his records in mindless rapaciousness and kleptomaniac impudence. But in all these sleazy records, this Jonathan administration beats them all. No inspiring governance, only looting

oyb: wetin dey happen na? are beaf , jmaie, funky mallam and co blind?

The $1.1billion proceeds paid to Malabu oil company was shared by some private firms owned by people very close to the presidency, a report by an anti-graft agency shows.

Bontee: Still there is still no proof that the president is involved in anything than this and that person is close to the presidency. Let the final report come out and lets see if the president is involved before concluding from mere statements as they are close to the presidency.

It was shared by people close to the presidency doesn't mean the presidency is involved or took part in any of it.

An online news medium, PREMIUM TIMES, in a follow up on its earlier version of a report on Thursday, had stated that money was paid on the order of Jonathan.

It also alleged that the money was a slush fund, “with a huge chunk of it ending in bank accounts of cronies and business associates of government officials.”

Jonathan, AGF Adoke, CBN, Private Developer Implicated In NITEL Land Scam
Posted: October 19, 2011 - 01:53




A house under construction on Gana Street reportedly built for AGF Adoke


An investigation by SaharaReporters has unearthed a scam in Abuja in which officials of the late Umaru Yar’Adua government as well as the Goodluck Jonathan administration colluded with a shady property developer in a deal where a government-owned land was bought and sold at a scandalous profit for the private developer (A Group Properties Ltd.).

At the center of the deal is Alhaji Abubakar Aliyu (boss of AA Oil), a close friend of the ex-convict former governor of Bayelsa state, D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha. Former Governor Alamieyeseigha was prosecuted for money laundering by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) – and convicted.

The highly questionable land deal also involved the Central Bank of Nigeria, which was used as a conduit to buy back a piece of land that had earlier been sold to Mr. Aliyu by the Yar'Adua regime.

The high-priced piece of land, located in the central business district of Abuja across from the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), originally belonged to the Nigerian Telecom Company (NITEL).

A source at the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) told SaharaReporters that when NITEL was about to be liquidated, the large piece of land was put aside as an asset to be applied to the NITEL pension fund. The pension fund had a deficit running into billions of naira. However, before handing over to Umaru Yar'Adua, the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo decided to hand the land over to the Ministry of Communication, which was then headed by John Odey, a former secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Once Mr. Yar’Adua took over, Mr. Abubakar Aliyu, the owner of AA Oil, began to lobby top members of that government to persuade Mr. Yar’Adua to approve for the property developer to buy the land from the Ministry of Communication. Our sources disclosed that officials of the ministry protested, arguing that it made more economic and strategic sense for the ministry to develop the land on its own.

Besides, at the time that Mr. Aliyu was bargaining to acquire the land, he and his company were deeply indebted to several banks and had defaulted on several loans, the highest being one from Skye bank. Despite his shady corporate profile and huge debt burden, Mr. Aliyu was able to secure Mr. Yar'Adua’s approval of the deal to buy the land.

Several sources told SaharaReporters that the rogue businessman bribed his way to Mr. Yar’Adua’s approval. And then, since the approval came just before Mr. Yar’Adua took gravely ill and was flown away to a hospital in Saudi Arabia, Mr. Aliyu manipulated the process of the land deal, including fixing the evaluation of the property, a task that ought to have been done by the Federal Government. “Alhaji AA Oil bribed officials in President Yar'Adua’s government, and they let him use his personal evaluators to value the land,” said a source.

Our sources revealed that Mr. Aliyu’s evaluator did not assess the value of the land, but focused on an uncompleted building on the land. A legal wrangling during the era of former General Sani Abacha had led to the freezing of the uncompleted building. The legal tussle arose when Nasir el-Rufai, who acted as a quantity surveyor on the development, dragged the Abacha regime to court over contractual services offered to the government. Mr. el-Rufai was later to handle the botched privatization of NITEL, which included the land.

Our sources disclosed that the land area was 80,000 square feet. They also revealed that the going rate of land in the area at the time of the evaluation was N100,000 per square feet in the area. Going by that rate, the government could have easily negotiated to sell the land for at least N8 billion naira. However, in what was the first phase of the scam, the evaluator hired by Mr. Aliyu focused entirely on the uncompleted property on the land, ignoring the value of the land itself.

As a result of Mr. Aliyu’s fraudulent moves, he got the government to sell him the land for less than N1 billion. A few years later, he attempted to sell the land to several businesses, including a firm belonging to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. A source said Mr. Atiku reportedly offered to buy the property for N3.5 billion, but Mr. Aliyu rejected the offer, asking for N4 billion to enable him to offset one of his bad bank loans. He could not find a willing buyer.

As several banks increased their pressure on the debt-burdened AA Oil, threatening to take over the company’s assets, Mr. Aliyu approached more buyers, including banks, but none put together an offer that the company considered acceptable.

However, Mr. Aliyu’s troubles ended when the Goodluck Jonathan administration came into office. Attorney General Mohammed Bello Adoke, who is reportedly from the same area as the owner of AA Oil in Kogi State, started working directly to help AA Oil market its landed properties.

One source said Mr. Aliyu recruited Mr. Adoke to speak to Goodluck Jonathan, who was then completing the remainder of Yar'Adua's presidential tenure.

With the attorney general on his side, AA Oil saw a quick swing in its fortunes. The company had two properties for sale. President Jonathan approved a deal for the Central Bank of Nigeria to immediately buy one for N4.5 billion on behalf of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON). Sources within the Presidency and the Central Bank told SaharaReporters that the six-story building was over-inflated. Even so, payments were promptly made to AA Oil.

Soon after the conclusion of this property sale to AMCON,[b] Mr. Adoke again approached Mr. Jonathan with a proposal to ask the CBN to buy the controversial NITEL property from Mr. Aliyu. One source said that President Jonathan found the deal too good to disregard when Mr. Adoke suggested that the sale would be a good source of campaign funds for the Jonathan presidential campaign.

As soon as Jonathan gave his approval for the deal to proceed, the CBN corralled an evaluation committee to value the land. The evaluators reported returned with hugely over-inflated evaluations. One group claimed the property was worth N21 billion while another group put the value at N17 billion. The CBN did not only speedily approve the deal; it also quickly paid Mr. Aliyu through two banks. One of the payments to Skye Bank reportedly wiped out AA Oil’s debt to the bank. A second trance was paid through another commercial bank. It was from this second payment that several officials involved in the deal, including Mr. Jonathan, received a share of the loot. Our sources confirmed that Mr. Jonathan's campaign received $7 million (approx. N1.2 billion) in December 2010 through the treasurer of the then Jonathan Campaign team, Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi. She is currently the Minister of Aviation.[/b]

Our sources said CBN staff members who processed the deal shared N1 billion. Attorney General Adoke was also handsomely rewarded. Mr. Aliyu, whose property business specializes in building and furnishing homes for sale, built and donated two houses to Mr. Adoke. One of the buildings is reportedly located on Gana Street across from the Hilton Hotel while the second house is on Ikogosi Street, near the official residence of the Inspector General of Police in the Maitama section of Abuja.

[size=14pt]A source, who once worked in the Presidency, said he was shocked that the government would dole out approximately N20 billion naira for a piece of land it sold just a few years ago for less than N1 billion. “This is the kind of deal that makes Nigerians look at people in government as crooks,” said the source.
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An official at the Central Bank of Nigeria, who asked not to be named, claimed that the bank relied on evaluations provided by professional real estate valuers in arriving at a price for the property. The Central Bank also stated that an international conference center that meets "global standards" is to be built on the land acquired from Mr. Aliyu.

But a source in Abuja described the CBN claim as “both curious and spurious.” “Look, the Federal Government has in recent years been selling properties owned by it at greatly discounted prices. It has also begun a policy of monetization for public officials instead of building new government buildings in Abuja. In fact, it was with this pretext that most government-owned properties, including this NITEL property, were sold a few years ago,” said the source.

Multi-Million Dollars Hidden Bank Accounts Of Jonathan’s Minister Of Justice, Bello Adoke Exposed-iReports-ng.com
Posted: January 13, 2012 - 12:23



Mohammed Bello Adoke
By iReports-ng.com

Barely 48 hours after an online publication exposed the sordid details of a N1.2 billion mansion just purchased by President Goodluck Jonathan’s Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,in Maitama area of Abuja, ireports-ng.com has uncovered four secret bank accounts where billions of naira, millions of US dollars and GB pounds are hidden by current Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke.

Adoke was appointed as Justice Minister by President Jonathan on April 6, 2010 and has since then been enmeshed in various allegations of corruption and providing cover for the corrupt who are facing court trial by withdrawing corruption charges against them.

Weeks of underground investigations by ireports-ng.com have however revealed more shocking details about Adoke’s secret bank accounts in the nation’s federal capital territory, Abuja. One of such is an account number 002228052782 at a branch of First City Monument Bank located at Plot 252 Herbert Macaulay Way,Central Area Abuja. In the account is a stunning sum of $16 million US dollars.

Further investigations revealed that Adoke is keeping yet another $24 million US dollars in account number 041152000428 with Diamond Bank located at Plot 117 Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Wuse 2 while another 5.3 million Great Britain Pounds is also kept in the same account with Diamond Bank.

As if that was not enough, ireports-ng.com also revealed that Nigeria’s Justice Minister operates another secret account with the Ahmadu Bello Way branch of Zenith Bank, Abuja where a whooping sum of N6.2 billion is being kept.

[size=14pt]Born on September 1st,1963, Adoke was not known for any serious legal practice until he was brought to the limelight in 2010 when he was appointed as Justice Minister by Mr Jonathan.[/size] Since then, there has been series of allegations of under the table deals by Mr Adoke using his official position. He has in the last 48 hours issued two statements to threaten protesting Nigerian workers to sack them and charge civil society activists involved in the protests with treason.

Last year, an online publication accused Adoke of taking bribes from an arranged sale of moribund NITEL property in Area 11, Abuja and buy back of same from Adoke’s kinsman popularly called Alhaji AA Oil. Adoke’s share of the deal was said to have been diverted to build a massive mansion for him on Gana street, Abuja. Though he denied ownership of the property saying it belongs to AA Oil, finishing works have since stopped on the sprawling property which was being worked on day and night before the scandal broke out.

Also last year, a civil society group called Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders,CACOL petitioned Nigeria’s anti-graft police, EFCC to probe allegations that Mr Adoke collected bribes running into over $23 million US dollars from a plea bargain deal he arranged between government and some multinational firms including Siemens, Halliburton and Julius Berger.Ironically, Adoke supervises the EFCC that is supposed to investigate the various corruption allegations against him. It is yet to be seen whether the present head of the agency, Mr Ibrahim Lamorde will have the courage to probe graft allegations against Adoke which his predecessor failed to touch.

ijigbamigb: HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA... OMA SHEEE OOO... SMH ... YET THEY WILL ALL GO UNPUNISHED. OGA o

EXCLUSIVE: Multi-million dollar bribe scandal rocks Reps probe of Malabu oil deal… Adoke, Ngama, named

LEGISREPORTS NG – The House of Representatives may be in the spotlight for the wrong reasons yet again. This time the lure of oily lucre dripping from the controversial OPL 245 oil bloc appears to be the catalyst that may unravel the integrity of the House or whatever is left of it.

It has emerged that the work of the adhoc committee of the House empanelled to investigate a controversial payment of $1,092, 040,000 (about N155 billion as at the time of probe) to Malabu allegedly from government coffers by Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke and the Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Yerima Ngama has hit a crisis and whatever report emergent there-from may be imperilled.

OPL 245 has a contentious ownership and operational status with claims and counter-claims flying between an indigenous company, Malabu and its technical partners on one hand and two multi-nationals, Shell and Agip on the other hand. The federal government through the imprimatur of Mr. Adoke’s office allegedly brokered the questionable multi-billion naira settlement deal that is the subject of the House probe.

An alleged USD 15million bribe deal to the probe committee from some external interests is now causing ripples among its members with serious tension and threats by some to disown the eventual report that will be submitted taking the centre-stage at the moment.

Although, Hon. Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta State) deputy majority leader of the House and chairman of the adhoc committee probing the Malabu deal denied the bribery charges, LEGISREPORTS confirmed that there is indeed mutual distrust, suspicion and disagreements over recommendations concerning indictments of certain interests/entities investigated in the probe amongst members of the committee.

The sharing formula of the sleaze sum, a source informed, is one of the reasons behind the crisis in the committee besides findings that several members of the panel have been working at cross purposes to either protect different vested interests or pull some entities down through the committee’s report. Failure to aggregate these varying interests is another reason why the committee’s report which is said to be ready but awaiting ratification by members, may suffer a credibility crisis upon presentation.

LEGISREPORTS gathered that the internal wrangling in the committee has attracted the attention of the Speaker of the House, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal who summoned a meeting of the feuding parties late last week with a follow-up parley early in the week in a bid to paper over the cracks before the committee submits its report before the entire House.

The speaker’s intervention notwithstanding, our checks as at press time reveal that the cracks in the committee still remain deep-seated necessitating that a planned submission of the report today (Tuesday) may be shifted forward to allow for tempers to cool and members come to some form of agreement.

Some members of the committee are Hon. Samson Osagie (ACN, Edo State), Hon. Victor Ogene (APGA, Anambra State), Hon. Adams Jagaba (PDP, Kaduna), Hon. John Dyegh (ACN, Benue) and Hon. Adamu Kaita (CPC, Katsina).

Apart from Hon. Ogor, some members of the committee contacted by LEGISREPORTS neither owned up to the allegation of the bribe nor categorically denied it. They simply played around the allegation in response to direct questions posed but did own up that all was not well with the work of the committee so far.

A particular member who craved anonymity in fact threatened not to endorse the report if some entities investigated during the work of the committee were not indicted. Another member simply pleaded for time to allow members of the committee resolve their differences and present an agreed report.

Hon. Ogor however, said during a telephone interview with LEGISREPORTS that he is committed to protecting the national interest in the committee’s work and that he would not allow any compromise from any quarters no matter the pressure. He also reiterated his earlier denial that some money had changed hands in a bid to influence the committee’s report.

“Just lets wait for the report. Nigerians will be proud to see that we protected national interest as against selfish agenda,” he said, noting that the allegations of bribery are a distraction.

The Malabu oil deal has attracted huge public interest following allegations that Messrs. Adoke and Ngama had deployed government funds in a questionable brokerage that benefited some private pockets as against the overall public good.

The Attorney General had a burst up with the committee during its public hearing in December last year when he queried some members’ line of questioning which he thought were presumptuous and injurious to his person and office.

LEGISREPORTS promises updates on this matter.

This report was presented by our reporter at the National Assembly