A. GPT was contacted in late 1992 by the NNPC, in an effort to halt sanctions by the United Nations for the NNPC burning its waste oil in the Nigerian oil sector. The main violations were at NNPC’s three refineries, Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri.

One of the officials at the NNPC had noticed an article describing the reclamation process developed by GPT’s Petrec International. I was invited to Nigeria as a guest of the NNPC to investigate the possible opportunities available in the reclamation of the waste oil. At that time it was costing the NNPC money and manpower to dispose of it as well as facing sanctions by the UN. During my visit to Nigeria I toured the refineries and determined that there was over 3,000,000 barrels of waste oil sitting in wastewater ponds at the waste-water facilities waiting to be disposed of by burning it.

A. I negotiated and executed three Joint Venture Agreements (JVA’s) with the NNPC. Dr. Edmund Daukoru was Group Managing Director of the NNPC. Dr. Daukoru executed all three agreements on behalf of the NNPC. I had meetings with Dr. Daukoru who was a gentleman and was obviously in favor of our projects that was confirmed by his executing all three contracts on behalf of the NNPC. I understand that recently, Dr. Daukoru has been appointed the Minister of Petroleum and Minerals. I found him to be a man of the utmost integrity.

The three JVA’s were as follows 1) GPT contracted to build up to ten oil topping plants (small 10,000 barrel per day refineries). Two unincorporated divisions of GPT, Gulf-PetroChem Inc. (GPC) and Petrec International were both formed by a corporate 3) the resolution to form two Nigerian Joint Venture Companies with the NNPC to build a 2) a Urea (fertilizer) plant utilizing natural gas and the of course the dispute is over, Petrec International (Petrec). Both were formed at the same time and with the same GPT corporate resolution. There was full disclosure by GPT and the documents were presented to the NNPC GGM of the Legal Division and Corporate Secretariat who was Prince Ewen Essien who lied under oath at the final hearing stating that I had not delivered the documents. He apologized to me for lying but informed me that he was forced to lie in order to keep his pension.

A. The breach was caused by the NNPC refusing to fund $650,000.00 after we had spent $2.9 million for chemicals and equipment to be used in the projects and in compliance with the JVA. NNPC confirmed these expenditures by sending a team of three NNPC executives to the US to confirm our purchases by submitting an official report to the NNPC. After a year of excuses by NNPC we offered to fund their $650,000 to be used as operating capital for the Joint venture company; PNL so that we could enter the waste oil areas and begin the projects. The NNPC denied our request and made more excuses for not funding and at the same time denied us entry to the refineries and waste oil areas.

After our investigation it became apparent that oil was being stolen out of the refineries. Our investigators confirmed that the theft of this oil controlled by people in high places in Nigeria was the actual reason that NNPC had breached the contract. The losses were estimated to be approximately 22% of the total output of oil being refined at the three refineries. This percentage of losses from even a poorly managed refinery would be ridiculous. During my tour of the refineries, I noted that the refineries were being operated efficiently in spite of the losses registered by the NNPC. The bottom line was that it was apparent that someone was stealing oil from the refineries. At the end of the first five year review period, we filed a breach and demanded arbitration in compliance with the JVA.

A. There are two answers to this question. I will address the statement that the “NNPC believes that Petrec International only exists on paper and then I will address the presumption by the NNPC “that we are angry and vindictive”.

The ruling that Petrec International lacked standing to file the arbitration was a scheme cleverly orchestrated by our choice of arbitrator Andrew Berkeley and introduced by him at the Quantum Hearing determining the losses. Its success depended on the weakness of the inability for a loser of an arbitration to be successful in appealing the arbitration award even if there was corruption in procuring the award.

We had received a Partial award by the arbitral panel confirming that NNPC had damaged Petrec by the breach of contract and that we were due damages to be determined at the Quantum Hearing on losses.

This fraud will likely be addressed in a hearing on the merits of the case and reversed by Article 37 of the Nigerian Companies & Allied Matters Act of 1990 which confirms that contrary to what is fraudulently reported by Sena Anthony and her henchmen, Petrec does exist and owns 75% of Petrec Nigeria Limited and if it did not (which it legally does under Article 37) GPT would own it and if GPT did not own it, I would own it because I executed the JVA.

The Pointblanknews.com article published on 18 September on your website covers the dissolution of the joint venture company Petrec (Nigeria) Limited issue very well, so you might interview the NNPC counsel Robert Clarke and ask him to explain in detail why he was commissioned to file proceedings with the High Court of Nigeria to dissolve the JV Company Petrec Nigeria Limited ex parte , without Petrec appearing or even being notified through it lawyers of record) when Petrec owns 75 % of PNL and NNPC only owns 25%.

It is my understanding that under Nigerian law it is illegal and against the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to dissolve a company without going through the legal processes such as the proper service of summons and notification to the parties. Therefore, Petrec did exist and does continue to exist and since the contract is governed by Nigerian law, Article 37 of the Nigerian Companies & Allied Matters Act of 1990 confirms that it exists.

I will now address the comment by NNPC that we are “angry and vindictive”.

It is only natural for anyone to be angry that has been cheated out of 14 years of their lives by fraud. It will be interesting to observe how the fraudsters handle Justice in the United States Court system.

As to our being vindictive, there is no need for us to be vindictive. We will leave reprisal to the justice of our US Federal District Court System. The court will deliver a most unforgiving blow of justice by serving its most feared and most devastating Rules of Evidence & Discovery on the NNPC, Sena Anthony, Prince Bola Ajibola and Andrew Berkeley and his corrupt arbitration panel.

A. The weaknesses of International Arbitration have provided the loopholes for the corrupt Andrew Berkeley and his conspirators to design a very cleverly orchestrated plan in order for the panel to get away with dismissing the arbitration. If the US 5 th Circuit Court sends the case back to the US Federal District Court, the institution of international arbitration will be exposed as a tool for corrupt arbitrators like Berkeley, Meakin and Van Houtte to take advantage of the corruption of third world countries with big budgets for paying arbitrators for favorable awards. High Profile, energy related arbitrations are easy victims for these corrupt arbitrators.

I must say that bribery is a little more than “shady antics”. No matter if it is in the sports arena or the business world, there is absolutely no victory when it is obtained through cheating or corruption.

It became obvious that at least one of the panel members had been compromised and, unfortunately, that member was our poor choice of arbitrator, Andrew W.A. Berkeley of the U.K. In this instance, Prince Bola Ajibola the High Commissioner appeared, un announced, at the final hearing. As Ajibola entered the hearing room, Andrew Berkeley nearly ran over his two fellow arbitrators in an effort to embrace Ajibola, and kissing him on either cheek. At that point, it was obvious that we knew that we were in trouble especially since Berkeley had been attempting to discredit us and our expert witnesses during most of the hearing.

Prince Bola Ajibola the High Commissioner was appointed by President Obasanjo as the intermediary between Berkeley and the NNPC in the beginning, but changed to Sena Anthony after Ajibola stole $19,000,000 of the $25,000 allocated by President Obasanjo. This is confirmed by several of the authenticated letters. This fraud was detected by our investigators and proved by the documents provided by several whistleblowers that chose to come forward with the hard evidence of these crimes. You be the judge. You have seen all of it. .

As to the proof we have? You have been privileged to review 13 documents (8 originals and 5 copies) of forensically authenticated documents that confirm the NNPC bribed a panel of three arbitrators consisting of Berkeley, Meakin and Van Houtte to dismiss the arbitration. I do not count this as a victory for NNPC. If the case is remanded, this evidence will become our proof of the fraud.

A. Nigeria could have a great business environment, unfortunately until the corruption is stamped out, the people of Nigeria will suffer. As long as criminals such as these are allowed to line their pockets instead of spending the countries oil money on the infrastructure of the country, Nigeria will continue to be what I call a very rich poor country. I love Nigeria and the people, but I hate the corruption. What a shame.

A. If we had lost the arbitration fairly, we would have walked away from the arbitration and gone home with our heads down. Unfortunate for the criminal conspirators, we caught them and we had to liquidate all of our assets to take advantage of what we thought was three opportunities of a lifetime. We had no where to go but to fight. It is incorrect to assume that all Westerners are rich and can afford to lose millions of dollars and that they have deep pockets and are as you say “never willing to be at the losing end when doing business with developing nations”. On the contrary. We were invited to Nigeria to bail out the NNPC that was very close to getting the country sanctioned by the UN for environmental violations. Our project was an environmentally friendly and sound project. We were not only removing an environmental problem but we were going to make NNPC a profit out of big losses. The arbitration was dismissed. The earlier rulings were conceived by fraud. The Faulk family can stand defeat if it is obtained fair and square. This one reeked with fraud and corruption. The arbitration cheated us out of our justice. Now we only have the US courts to seek out justice. We will let the courts decide who is guilty and who is innocent if the merits of the case are heard.

A. It is not only ridiculous but also obtuse. Anyone that would make the statement that “all Nigerians are fraudulent” is a fool. I have a Nigerian Godson and many Nigerian friends that keep in touch on the internet by email daily.

A. Everything. As I mentioned earlier in the interview, we evaluated the upside of the reclamation project as well as the Urea and Refining and decided to go for all of it and by proceeding with the projects in a sound financial position and with our key personnel, we were forced to liquidate all of our trucking, reclamation plants and pipeline injection stations. We bet it all on being successful in Nigeria. It was obviously a mistake.

A. Anytime you burn hydrocarbons the soot floods the atmosphere. Take a trip to the oil producing states and look at the sky. There is your answer to that question. Our project along with policing the pipelines would have improved the environment substantially. Our project would have completely stopped the burning of waste oil in Nigeria.

A. Justice. NNPC and its conspirators deserve a lesson in justice. That they are not above the law. That arbitration is not a judiciary and an arbitrator is not a judge and does not have the protection of that of a federal judge.

If justice is served the case will be remanded to the Eastern District of Texas and everyone will face the devastation of US rules of evidence and discovery.

It will be a memorable prosecution under the umbrella of RICO which demands treble damages. If justice is served it will be a very expensive but good lesson for the NNPC. It will be a lesson for the institution of international arbitration and after the 5 th Circuit hearing on Thursday, 6 September 2007, I doubt if anyone from Fulbright & Jaworski or the NNPC walked out of the courtroom with a warm and fuzzy feeling in their stomachs.

As Judge Garza so eloquently stated at the end of the hearing, “Is Arbitration an exception to RICO or is RICO an exception to Arbitration?” I know the answer. Do you?

A. I came out of the hearing believing that justice may have been served and that it has no longer turned its back on us. I believe that the 5 th Circuit Panel fully understood the injustice that we have suffered at the hands of the NNPC, and the corrupt arbitrators. Up until the 5 th Circuit hearing in New Orleans, the NNPC was doing well avoiding a hearing on the merits of the case for lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction in the Northern District of Texas (NDTX) and now the Eastern District of Texas (NDTX)

A. We have considered the comments and statements of Judges King, Garza, and Benavides during the hearing and believe that this panel of judges was sensitive to the time it took to for us to gather the evidence, and that the origin of the evidence made it necessary for us to have the evidence forensically authenticated so that it could be filed with a court of competent jurisdiction without concerns over being prosecuted for filing fraudulent documents. I also believe that this panel was not sympathetic to the NNPC’s plea that all arbitration final awards are immune from an impermissible collateral attack if corruption was instrumental in procuring the award. I also believe that the court did not agree with Mr. Boyce in that “all appeals of final awards are made by disgruntled losers”. I further believe that Professor Bederman made a brilliant presentation and covered all the issues at hand including the jurisdictional issues. I believe that the court is aware of the weaknesses of arbitration, particularly international arbitration and is not afraid to challenge an arbitration award if there is the slightest evidence of corruption.. Therefore, I believe that decision of the Panel will be in favor of remanding the case back to the EDTX for a hearing on its merits.

A. It is my understanding that Mr. Bowman is no longer a Partner at F & J and has moved over to the Houston office of King & Spalding. I am presently not at liberty to comment on any legal issues that we may have with Mr. Bowman, but if you have any questions concerning Mr. Bowman and his relationship with this case, I might suggest that you contact Mr. Bowman at the King & Spalding office in Houston. Also you will find a Mr. R. Doak Bishop who filed the Amicus Brief on behalf of the NNPC at the 5 th Circuit listed there. Mr. Bishop did not appear to argue his brief so you may have missed his connection. He and Mr. Bowman are now partners at King & Spalding. I suggest that you give them a call and schedule an interview. You might find it interesting. Both Mr. Bowman and Mr. Bishop are international arbitrators and are friends with Arbitrator Andrew Berkeley. Research will link the three of them together is several instances.