diplomat, Ednan Agaev, who once alleged that former
A former Russian
diplomat, Ednan Agaev, who once alleged that former president Goodluck Jonathan
allegedly rece
find ived $200 million in the controversial Malabu deal has reversed
himself on the claim, stressing that the initial statement in which he indicted
the former President was made under duress.
Mr, Agaev, a middleman
and defendant in the case, helped negotiate the transfer of the OPL 245 oil
block to Shell and Eni, two multinationals at the heart of the scandal. He made
the new claim on Wednesday while giving evidence before an Italian court in
Milan over the controversial Malabu scandal.
Premium Times reported
that Mr Agaev’s initial statement was read but he declined to confirm the
statement. Mr Ag
house aev claimed he was under pressure in the interview to mention a
name.
When confronted with his
exact statement alleging that Mr Jonathan may have received money, a defence
lawyer interrupted and objected to the evidence on payments to the former
president. When asked whether he thought Mr Jonathan got money from the deal,
he said his statement
business to the FBI should be understood that he thought it was a
possibility money would go to Mr Jonathan, but he had no evidence.
Commenting on his
previous statement, Mr Agaev said it was just speculation and declined to
confirm his statement. It was reported that at this point, the President of the
court however silenced him even as the lawyer continued to interrupt. He
promptly denied any wrongdoing.
In 2017, BuzzFeed quoted a 2017 excerpt of FBI submissions to Italian
authorities wherein Mr Agaev alleged that if Mr Etete actually paid out bribes
to
Nigerian officials, “Agaev stated that he would think President Goodluck
Jonathan got at least $200 million of this money.”
Former President
Jonathan had on many occasions denied this allegation, recently describing it
as “cheap, predictable and recycled falsehood”
A statement issued last May by Jonathan’s media adviser, Mr Ikechukwu Eze,
said: “Former President Goodluck Jonathan did not ask for or collect any
bribes, neither has he been charged for asking or collecting bribes, neither
will he ever be charged with asking for or collecting bribes, because such
never happened.”
The Malabu scandal
involved the transfer of about $1.1 billion by Shell and ENI through the
Nigerian government to accounts controlled by a former Nigerian petroleum
minister, Dan Etete.
From accounts controlled
by Mr Etete, about half the money ($520 million) went to accounts of companies
controlled by Aliyu Abubakar, popularly known in Nigeria as the owner of AA
oil.
Anti-corruption
investigators and activists suspect Mr Aliyu fronted for top officials of the
Jonathan administration as well of officials of Shell and ENI.
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