MALABU SCAM: Finally, Shell admits it knew $1.1bn was to bribe Etete

More revelation have emerged in the Malabu oil deal scam which has overtime continued to dominate newspapers headlines in Nigeria.

Anglo-Dutch oil giant, Royal Dutch Shell, on Monday finally disclosed it had always felt that the $1.1 billion it paid along with ENI to Nigerian government for the OPL 245 oil block licence would eventually be employed for the settlement of the former Minister of Petroleum, Dan Etete.

According to the New York Times, Andy Norman, a spokesperson for Shell claimed in an email on Monday, that, “Over time, it became clear to us that Etete was involved in Malabu and that the only way to resolve the impasse through a negotiated settlement was to engage with Etete and Malabu, whether we liked it or not.”

Mr. Norman went further to say that the Dutch oil giant knew the “Nigerian government would compensate Malabu to settle its claim on the block,”

A day earlier, Shell’s chief executive, Ben van Beurden and his then chief financial officer, Simon Henry, revealed in their telephone conversation which was intercepted that the oil firm knew Mr. Etete was the main beneficiary of the multi-billion dollar deal.

Read also: Report alleges Jonathan, others may have got $400m from $1.3bn Malabu scam

These revelations are coming after Shell and ENI had all these while feigned not to have any inkling that Mr. Etete, prior to the settlement agreement that was reached during Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in 2011, would benefit from the deal.

Following that agreement, Shell and ENI assume ownership of the lucrative oil field and paid $1.1billion to Malabu through a Nigerian government account after Shell had earlier, paid $200million.

The report is linked to the Italian court documents obtained by BuzzFeed and Italian business newspaper, Il Sole 24 Ore, which had Italian prosecutors quoting Ednan Agaev, a middleman who helped negotiate the transfer of the oil block to Shell and Eni, saying that Dan Etete said he intended to give $400 million in bribes to Jonathan and some National Assembly members.

Agaev, then said that if at all Etete did what he said he wanted to do with the money, that former President Jonathan may have got at least $200 million of this money

Jonathan has however denied receiving any money from the Malabu oil deal from anybody.

 

 

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