Prosecutors allege that “fronts for President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria” received US$523m in proceeds of “smash and grab” OPL 245 deal.
Press release / 15 Dec 2015
Southwark Crown Court today rejected an attempt by a company owned by the former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete to unfreeze US$85m in proceeds of the corrupt deal for the Nigerian offshore oil block, Oil Prospecting Licence 245 (OPL 245), which was sold to Shell and Eni for $1.1bn in 2011.
The funds were restrained at the request of Italian authorities, who are investigating the sale of the block by Malabu Oil & Gas, a company secretly owned by Mr Etete, to the international oil companies.