NNPC Official Charged To Court By FBI For Bribery In The USA

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Paulinus Iheanacho Okoronkwo, a high-ranking official at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has been charged by the FBI with bribery and tax evasion in the United States, according to court documents. Okoronkwo, who served as a general manager in the NNPC’s upstream department, is accused of accepting at least $2.1 million in bribes from Addax Petroleum, a Chinese oil company, to facilitate the company’s evasion of a $2.4 billion liability to Nigeria linked to an oil-lifting contract initiated in 2001.

This indictment, filed by a grand jury on January 10, 2024, in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, outlines how Okoronkwo allegedly leveraged his position to benefit Addax Petroleum amidst a longstanding dispute over drilling rights from a deal dating back to 2001. Addax Petroleum, a Swiss company owned by Sinopec, purportedly paid Okoronkwo $5,263,157.89, including an initial payment of $2,105,263.16 in October 2015, in an effort to secure its interests under the new administration of Muhammadu Buhari, which had threatened to annul a May 2015 agreement made just before former President Goodluck Jonathan left office.

Prosecutors claim the $2.1 million was wired to Okoronkwo’s law firm account in the U.S., allegedly for consultancy related to the negotiation and completion of a settlement agreement with NNPC concerning Addax’s drilling rights dispute. However, the indictment suggests Okoronkwo was actually using his U.S. law firm to conceal his involvement in NNPC’s crude oil transactions, while simultaneously aiding Addax in navigating the regulatory and legal challenges imposed by the Buhari administration, which initially sought to impose a $2.37 billion liability on Addax.

Efforts to disguise the bribe as a legitimate transaction included the firing of a senior vice-president at Addax who questioned the $2.1 million payment. Additionally, Okoronkwo faces charges of obstruction and tax evasion for misleading investigators about the deal’s nature and failing to report the bribe as income on his 2016 tax returns.

Okoronkwo’s arraignment is scheduled for the coming weeks, with a conviction potentially leading to up to 10 years in prison. Furthermore, a separate forfeiture proceeding is in progress to seize assets acquired with the illicit proceeds, including a home purchased in cash for $983,200 in 2017.

The NNPC has yet to respond to requests for comment on Okoronkwo’s case, which is part of a series of U.S. legal actions against individuals involved in illegal transactions with Nigeria. This includes a recent case where over $6 million was confiscated from Ara Dolarian, an unlicensed arms dealer accused of defrauding Nigeria of $12 million in 2014.

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