Ednan Tofik ogly Agaev, former
Russian ambassador to Colombia who is charged with international corruption
over the OPL 245 affair, says he was pressured to mention a name in his
interrogation by the FBI.
In the FBI interview, he named
Mohammed Bello Adoke, former attorney-general of the federation, as one of the
recipients of the $400 million bribes allegedly paid to government officials in
the deal.
However, when the FBI statement
was read to him in a Milanese court on Wednesday and he was asked to adopt it
as part of his defence, Agaev declined.
He told the court he was under
pressure to mention a name during the interview and he mentioned Adoke, adding
that he didn’t mean for the interview to be used against him in court.
Adoke has vehemently denied
taking any bribes in the deal which was concluded in 2011 under his watch as
Nigeria’s chief law officer.
However, he has been charged to
court for money laundering in an Abuja court by the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly receiving $2.2 million bribe in the OPL
245 deal.
He has denied the charging,
maintaining out that a failed mortgage transaction of 2013 was being twisted by
the anti-graft agency to victimise him.
THE OPL 245 SAGA
On April 9, 1998, the federal
military government awarded OPL 245 to Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd, which was said
to be owned mainly by Mohammed Abacha, son of the Sani Abacha, and Don Etete,
who was the petroleum minister at the time.
On July 2, 2001, President
Olusegun Obasanjo revoked Malabu’s licence and assigned the oil block to Shell
— without a public bid. Malabu went to court, and ownership was reverted to it
in 2006 after it reached an out-of-court settlement with the federal
government.
Shell fought back and commenced
arbitration against Nigeria, but when President Goodluck Jonathan came to power
in 2010, the controversy appeared to have been resolved with Shell and Eni
agreeing to buy the oil block from Malabu for $1.1 billion.
The oil companies also paid $210
million as signature bonus to the federal government of Nigeria.
Both payments were made to the
federal government account at JP Morgan, London, from where Malabu’s share was
transferred to Nigerian bank accounts of Abubakar Aliyu, owner of AA Oil Ltd.
However, investigators are trying
to establish that the bulk of the payment to Malabu was distributed as
kickbacks and that the IOCs were in the know of the alleged sleaze.
TRIAL CONTINUES…
In Italy on Wednesday, Agaev
appeared in court as a defendant as the trial of what is dubbed “the greatest
corporate scandal in history” continued.
Barnaby Pace of the Global
Witness — the UK-based body that has been at the forefront of the amplification
of the OPL 245 affair — livetweeted from the court.
You can click the link below to
read all his tweets.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday1/ I'm in Milan to live tweet the trial of @Shell @Eni & others for corruption in the OPL 245 oil deal with Nigeria. We're expecting Ednan Agaev, a middleman and defendant in the case who claimed President @GEJonathan probably received $200m in the deal. All deny wrongdoing. pic.twitter.com/WTThMxmTM8— Barnaby Pace (@pace_nik) June 26, 2019
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