Malabu Oil: ActionAid Wants Bribery Suspects Prosecuted

ActionAid Nigeria has called on the Federal Government to resolve the controversies surrounding the transactions related to the oil prospecting licence (OPL) 245.
The Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, Mrs Ojobo Atuluku, in a statement on Wednesday, said it was unacceptable that much of the proactive actions taken to unearth what went wrong have come from outside Nigeria.
It will be recalled that oil giants, Shell and Eni were said to have paid 1.3 billion dollars for oil bloc OPL 245. The licence is said to hold around nine billion barrels of oil.
The money was allegedly discovered to be diverted to Malabu Oil and Gas, which was incorporated by a former Petroleum Minister, Mr Dan Etete.
Shell and Eni however, continue to claim that they only paid the money to the Federal Government and did not make any arrangement with any third party.
Shell, Eni and several Eni senior executives, including the current CEO Claudio Descalzi, were scheduled to face a preliminary court hearing in Italy yesterday.
The Milan prosecutor is seeking that they be tried for alleged international corruption offences over the 2011 purchase of the Nigerian OPL 245 oil block.
Charges have also reportedly been filed in recent weeks against both companies by Nigerian authorities in relation to the same deal.
Atuluku said that Nigeria should be at the forefront of the prosecution because the resources in question primarily belong to the country.
“The Nigerian Government should institute a proper investigation to identify all persons who may have compromised the interests of Nigeria and Nigerians.
“Whoever was involved in fraud in the initial allocation, revocation, reallocation and payment of fees, compensation or may have benefited from any illicit payments in the whole sordid affair should be prosecuted,” she said.
She said that investigation into the case should be followed by prompt prosecution to ensure that every person or organisation culpable was made to face the consequences of their crimes.
“The oil field, at the centre of the high-level political economic squabbles between powerful corporations and individuals belongs exclusively to the Nigerian people, majority of who live below the poverty level.
“It is therefore a disservice to the Nigerian citizens for the state to do little or nothing to protect the interests of the generality of Nigeria’s poor in the ownership, management and use of the resource.”