Nigeria Ex-Justice Minister Charged Over $1.3 Billion Oil Deal

By Tope Alake

Mohammed Adoke leaves the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Jan. 22. Photographer: Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images

Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission charged Mohammed Adoke, a former justice minister and attorney general, for allegedly taking a bribe to facilitate a $1.3 billion oil deal.

The anti-graft body filed 42 charges against Adoke and accused him of receiving a 300 million naira ($831,000) payment from businessman Aliyu Abubakar in relation to the acquisition of Oil Prospecting License 245 in the Gulf of Guinea, the commission said in an emailed statement.

Adoke pleaded not guilty to all the charges and the case was adjourned to Jan. 27 when bail applications will be heard, the EFCC said.

Abubakar is also being tried alongside other parties, including the local units of Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Eni SpA. The two companies, who deny any wrongdoing, are accused of improperly settling disputes over the oil field.

OPL 245 was created in 1998, when then-petroleum minister Dan Etete carved out the offshore license and awarded it to his own company, Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd. Through successive regimes it was taken from him, awarded to Shell, and then given back, locking the companies and government in legal disputes.

To win control of OPL 245, Shell and partner Eni paid the Nigerian government $1.1 billion. The companies agree the payment was made, but disagree about whether those funds went to bribes.

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