Nigeria says ex-president and his oil minister took bribes – court filing. The Nigerian government has accused former President Goodluck Jonathan
Browsing: Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan
Osinbajo noted that Diezani, Omokore and Aluko made away with the money and that royalties and taxes were also not paid, adding that none of them had come out to make any denial.
In a judgment on Friday, Justice Binta Nyako held that the ex-minister acted on the lawful directives of Jonathan in the exercise of his executive powers as provided in the Constitution.
According to him, several transactions took place before and even after the period under review and therefore his committee should not be held responsible for not bring out most of these issues.
EFCC filed corruption charges against Shell and Eni in March 2017, accusing 11 defendants, including Chief Dan Etete, of “official corruption” in connection with the deal.
“Any and all amounts approved and directed by Mr. President to be paid, were executed exclusively by NNPC, directly from NNPC’s foreign and or, Central Bank of Nigeria accounts, to the stated recipients.”
The fund was allegedly obtained with approval from ex-President Goodluck Jonathan without appropriation from the National Assembly or approval from the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
Nigeria is among the world’s 10 cheapest places to buy petrol, which partly explains its recent fuel shortages. It also means that rising oil prices may be a double-edged sword for the country.
The companies are accused of corruption in the 2011 purchase of OPL 245, an offshore oil block estimated to hold 9 billion barrels of crude, for $1.3 billion.
“The East West road is a project that has been messed up from inception, naturally designed to fail by all the agreements and designed concepts that we have seen. And here we are making sure that we put things in order so that we can see the terminal point of that project.”