A senior official from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, is facing bribery and tax-related charges in the United States, according to court documents seen by Peoples Gazette.
Paulinus Iheanacho Okoronkwo, who served as a general manager in NNPC’s upstream department, has been indicted on three counts by a jury. The indictment alleges that Okoronkwo received at least $2.1 million in bribes to assist Addax Petroleum in avoiding a $2.4 billion liability to Nigeria under an oil-lifting contract dating back to 2001.
Okoronkwo, 67, holds dual citizenship in Nigeria and the U.S. He has practiced immigration and personal injury law in California for almost 30 years. In May 2015, shortly before former President Goodluck Jonathan left office, Okoronkwo and other NNPC officials entered into an agreement with Addax Petroleum to resume operations in Nigeria’s crude and gas reserves after a long dispute over the 2001 contract.
Addax Petroleum, owned by Sinopec and based in Switzerland, allegedly bribed Okoronkwo with $5,263,157.89, including an immediate payment of $2,105,263.16 in October 2015, after the new administration of Muhammadu Buhari threatened to cancel the May 2015 contract.
READ ALSO: U.S. expects Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal next week
The $2.1 million payment was wired to Okoronkwo’s law firm bank account in the U.S., labeled as payment for “Consultants for the negotiation and completion of a Settlement Agreement with NNPC” regarding Addax’s dispute over drilling rights. Okoronkwo, who was also employed as a general manager at NNPC, helped Addax handle challenges from the Buhari administration, which initially imposed a $2.37 billion liability on the Chinese firm.
Efforts were made to conceal the bribe payment as legitimate, and a senior vice-president of Addax was terminated on July 13, 2016, for questioning the $2.1 million transaction.
Authorities have also charged Mr. Okoronkwo with obstruction and tax evasion for allegedly lying to investigators about the nature of the deal and failing to pay taxes on it in his 2016 returns.
The charges state that Okoronkwo knew the $2,105,263 payment represented a bribe from Addax for influencing the NNPC, that the payment did not represent client funds but rather illicit income, and the $45,000 in gross income reported in his individual tax return did not include the multimillion-dollar bribe payment he had received.
Okoronkwo will be arraigned in the coming weeks and could face up to 10 years in prison upon conviction. A separate forfeiture proceeding is underway to recover Okoronkwo’s alleged ill-gotten gains, including a home he purchased in cash for $983,200 in 2017.
The NNPC has not yet responded to requests for comments on Mr. Okoronkwo’s case. This case is part of a series of prosecutions initiated by U.S. officials in California over illegal transactions from Nigeria. The same district recently confiscated over $6 million from Ara Dolarian, an unlicensed arms dealer who defrauded Nigeria of $12 million in 2014.
Credible news.ng
