Dear Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
Regular readers of Sahara Reporters may recall that I have provided
an initial rebuttal to a 25th March 2014 letter that you wrote to me
and my colleagues on matters including OPL 245 and the missing $20
billion. In my response which was published in Sahara Reporters on
27th March 2014, I addressed some of your counterfactual statements and
promised to provide further information in due course and I am now
taking this opportunity to fulfill my promise.
In your letter you dismissed our request for you to take action to
prevent the funds from the OPL 245 acquisition by Shell/Eni being
dissipated as, “a cop-out” by my partners and I, who were reluctant or
unwilling to take the “necessary action” ourselves.
You should note that our initial letter to you at the outset in May
2013 was part of a multi-pronged strategy. For the recordbefore writing
to you we had complained directly to the EFCC whom you referred us to
and whom unbeknownst to you we had already contacted independently and
met with in March 2013. At that meeting, Lamorde informed us that he
would have to refer the matter to the Attorney General, who of course to
your knowledge was the main architect of the OPL 245 deal. Needless to
say, we have not heard nor expect to hear further from the EFCC on this
matter.
However, in recognition of the challenges of pushing the matter in
Nigeria with the EFCC beholden to a corrupt Attorney General, we
utilised the global dimension of the caseto refer the matter to criminal
investigation authorities in multiple jurisdictions including the US,
UK and Italy. . We are acutely aware that the relevant authorities in
the aforementioned jurisdictions are co-operating fully in this matter.
It is a matter of public record that in response to our complaint the
UK authorities opened an investigation into OPL 245. We understand
that Adoke has made several unsuccessful trips to the UK in an effort to
truncate this investigation. It is also a matter of public record that
the Italians also opened an investigation and last
week raided Eni’s Milan head office as adirect result of our
complaint. The Italian media is now agog with stories about Eni and some
of its top executives being under investigation.
So you can see that contrary to your misguided opinion we did not
use you as a cop out for not taking the necessary action
ourselves. Consequently, you may wish to take some consolation from the
fact that it is a matter of when and not if Adoke and his colleague who
you are scared of will be held to account for their roles in the OPL
245 saga. It would appear to me that it is Adoke who is now running
scared. I can alsoreinforce my comments that we are acting on your
advice to trace Diezani’s assets in the UK and elsewhere and any
information that you or anyone else can provide in this respect will be
greatly appreciated. We will also be casting a critical eye on the role
played by JP Morgan as the banker of choice for the Federal Government
of Nigeria.
It is important that you and your colleagues understand that we are
living in a global world and we have the resources andthe wherewithal to
challenge those who believe that they can continue to loot Nigeria’s
resources with impunity be theyNigerians or foreigners. In this
regard you should note our record in this respect which includes but is
not limited to the examples provided below for your attention.
After a prolonged struggle, I can report that Thomas Gibian, the
founding CEO of the US fund manager, Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) and
others will soon be made to account for their roles in Ibori’s money
laundering, as the UK government’s efforts to recover Ibori’s assets
draw to a close. For your information, we informed the UK Department for
International Development (DFID) and other investors in the ECP Africa
Fund II that ECP was corruptly investing in Nigerian companies
reportedly linked to Ibori’s money laundering. Following what it
represented to be an extensive investigation, DFID accepted ECP’s
counterfactual assurances that its Africa Fund II investee companies in
Nigeria were and could not be linked to Ibori.
However, following the conclusion of the asset recovery proceedings,
DFID will have to account for its funding of theUK government’s efforts
to recover assets that the UK Crown Prosecution Service and Police have
alleged Ibori owns in the ECP Africa Fund II investee
companies Notore and Oandowhile accepting
ECP’s counterfactual assurances that those companies cannot and are not
linked to Ibori directly or indirectly. I would expect that the defence
lawyers will be keen to understand why DFID was minded to dismiss
evidence of the Ibori links that we know the Police provided to them, in
favour of the assurances provided by their fund manager, ECP that there
were no links.
In the case of OPL 245, as you are aware, our position which is
backed by the House of Representatives is that ENI and Shell unlawfully
acquired the licence. It is now a matter of public record
that Paolo Scaroni, the former ENI CEO, Claudio Descalzi the current ENI
CEO, Roberto Casula the Executive Vice President Sub-Saharan Africa and
others will soon have their day in court over the corrupt acquisition
of OPL 245 along with their counterparts in Shell. I was at a hastily
convened side meeting with Casula and other top Eniexecutives at the
last Eni AGM and can report that Casulawho is now a focus of the Italian
investigation appeared to me and my colleagues to be wilting under the
pressure.
The list will continue to grow as we continue our drive to hold to
account those who believe they can continue to loot our national
resources with impunity.
You should also note that we are now turning our focus to the $20
billion that his Royal Highness, the highly respected Emir of Kano, has
alleged is missing and anyone found culpable in this heinous theft will
be brought to justice whether inside or outside Nigeria. In this regard
you should understand that those who are attempting to represent that
the money is not missing will one day have to justify themselves in
court.
The writing is on the wall for those who know how to read. Wherever
we find evidence of corrupt looting of Nigeria’s public
resources we will ensure that those involved are challenged and brought
to account.
Yours sincerely,
Dotun Oloko