s previous statement, Mr Agaev said it was just specula

 

A former Russian diplomat, Ednan Agaev, who once alleged that former president Goodluck Jonathan allegedly received $200 million in the controversial Malabu deal has reversed himself on the usatimes.cc 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 usanews.cc . Mr Agaev 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 an news 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 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.