Fraud: British Judge Frozes N17 Billion Meant For Etete As He Questions Jonathan’s Integrity

Justice Edis of Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday refused to release $85 million (N17 billion) to Malabu, a fraudulent company controlled by Nigeria’s former petroleum minister, Dan Etete.

According to a British judge, the Southwark Crown Court had failed to follow proper procedures in securing the freezing. Justice Edis said he was not sure the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan acted in Nigeria’s interest when it approved the transfer of the money to Malabu.

“That investigation is not complete (and appears to be still at quite an early stage). Precisely because I cannot reach firm factual conclusions, I cannot simply assume that the FGN which was in power in 2011 and subsequently until 2015 rigorously defended the public interest of the people of Nigeria in all respects,” the judge said.

Earlier, the Jonathan administration controversially approved the transfer of $1.092 billion from Nigeria’s JP Morgan account in London to Nigerian accounts controlled by Malabu.

The former attorney general of the federation, Mohammed Adoke, and the former minister of state for finance, Yerima Ngama, signed the documents approving the transfer to Malabu.

 

The money was paid by global oil giants, Shell and ENi, for Africa’s richest oil bloc, OPL 245.

Antonio Tricarico of Re:Common said: “$85 million paid by Eni and Shell for the benefit of Dan Etete’s company Malabu remains frozen in London. The time has come that Eni and Shell come clean about what they knew about this deal and who else this money was intended for.”

The fraudulent deal, shaded in various layers of corruption, has been condemned by Nigerians and international transparency advocates and is being investigated by authorities in four different countries. Details on Premium Times.

The post Fraud: British Judge Frozes N17 Billion Meant For Etete As He Questions Jonathan’s Integrity appeared first on Nigeria News today & Breaking news | Read on NAIJ.COM.

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