Italian prosecutors have named former President
Goodluck Jonathan and Mrs. Diezani Alison-
Madueke, who served under his administration
as Minister of Petroleum Resources, among
those who allegedly received kickbacks in the
controversial $1.3bn oil block deal involving oil
giants ENI and Royal Dutch Shell.
According to AFP, Italian prosecutors, in court
documents filed late last months in Milan,
claimed that the Chief Executive of ENI, Claudio
Descalzi, and his predecessor, Paolo Scaroni,
met Jonathan “in person” to thrash out the deal,
which also involved former British intelligence
agents working as advisors for Shell.
The prosecutors alleged that Jonathan and
Diezani benefitted from a sum of $466m
converted into naira and used to grease the
palms of some Nigerian government officials to
facilitate the alleged shady deal.
The prosecutors alleged that another $54m was
withdrawn by one Abubakar Aliyu, whom the
prosecutors described as an “agent” of
Jonathan.
AFP claimed to have sighted, the Italian
prosecutors alleged that ENI and Shell executives
worked with a Nigerian businessman, Dan Etete,
who was an “oil minister under the military ruler,
Sani Abacha, from 1995 to 1998.”
Etete’s company, Malabu was the alleged
“fraudulent holder” of the OPL 245 block,
according to the court documents filed by Italian
prosecutors.
To facilitate the alleged shady deal, a total of
$801.5m was allegedly transferred to Etete’s
Malabu accounts, out of which $466m was
converted into naira and used for greasing the
palms of government officials, including
Jonathan and Diezani.
However, ENI and Shell have both denied
wrongdoing in the transaction.
Shell, in an email to AFP, said, “We are aware of
the investigation and we hope to show the
prosecutor that there is no basis to prosecute
Shell.
“Shell takes this matter seriously and is co-
operating with the authorities.”
Last Friday, the Federal High Court in Lagos
ordered three banks to temporary forfeit a sum
of $153m, which Diezani allegedly siphoned from
the coffers of the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation.
For his part, Jonathan has denied that his
government was corrupt and contested that the
claim by his successor, President Muhammadu
Buhari, that he left “virtually empty” treasury.
