NNPC’S $50 MILLION DOLLAR BRIBE: YAR’ADUA’S LEGAL DEMON

Unfortunately, the new regime of the President of Nigeria, Umaru Yar’Adua , and the acting GMD of the NNPC Abubaker Lawal Yar’Adua ( no relation to each other ) are faced with a huge Legal Demon. This Legal Demon consists of very serious pending litigation in the US that originated with NNPC bribing a Panel of International Arbitrators in an International Arbitration seated in Switzerland in 1999-2002. The arbitration was between the US Company, Gulf-Petro Trading Company, Inc and its division Petrec International (Gulf-Petrec) vs the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

If not properly handled, this rubbish left behind by the old regime of Olusegun Obasanjo, will cause the new regime to be blamed for creating loses of at least $6 billion dollars under the US most devastating Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) ratified by the US Legislature to prosecute corrupt organizations such as the NNPC for crimes against US citizens. If the New Regime follows the path of its predecessors by failing to respond to this critical situation before Gulf-Petrec receives a decision from the 5 th Circuit Court of Appeals, the NNPC will face RICO and the carnage of US Discovery.

Under US Title 28 Judiciary & Judicial Procedure and Rules, Sec. 1781, the NNPC will be ordered by the Court to produce a long list of possibly incriminating evidence that will further expose other frauds and conspiracies that NNPC would prefer to remain hidden from public view. This is the reality of US Discovery.

Pointblanknews.com attended 5 th Circuit hearing in New Orleans Louisiana on 6 September 2007 and after hearing the comments and suggestions by the court, Pointblanknews.com anticipates a favorable decision for Gulf-Petrec and not the NNPC. A decision in favor of Gulf-Petrec will demand that the case is to be sent back to a US Federal District Court in Texas with an order to try the case under the laws of the USA.

The NNPC was well represented at the US Court by appellate lawyer William Boyce of the Houston Texas Law Firm of Fulbright & Jaworski. There were no NNPC lawyers present at the hearing due because they were denied US Visas by the US Embassy to enter the US and attend the 5 th Circuit Hearing in New Orleans Louisiana on 6 September 2007.

The New Regime faces evidence presented to the US Court by Gulf-Petrec, confirming that the past President of Nigeria; Olusegun Obasanjo allocated £25 million Pounds Sterling (approximately $50 million US dollars) to be spent by the Officials of the NNPC in order to bribe a panel of arbitrators with instructions for it to be used to “stop the arbitration”. The payment of this bribe secured a favorable ruling by a Swiss Arbitral Panel and unfortunate for the NNPC, Gulf-Petrec did not accept such an obtuse and inappropriate ruling and proceeded to hire an International Fraud Investigation firm for confirmation of the fraud.

The fraud was co-orchestrated by an International Arbitrator Andrew W. A. Berkeley of London UK and his friend Prince Bola Ajibola, Ex-Nigerian Official of many levels. In this instance Ajibola was not only the “stakeholder” of the bribe money but at the same time he had been appointed High Commissioner to the U.K. by his close friend and collaborator Obasanjo, as a conduit for Berkeley and another co-conspirator the present Group General Manager, Corporate Secretariat & Legal Division Secretary to the Corporation Chief Sena Anthony and the Ex-Group Managing Director of NNPC, Gaius-Obaseki.

$25 million dollars of the $50 million dollars allocated by Obasanjo was to have been paid to a panel of International Arbitrators led by Berkeley for their corruption of a Swiss arbitration. During the arbitration hearings, damages of over $1.3 billion dollars were confirmed by the victim, Gulf-Petrec. Obviously, if this corruption had succeeded, the $25 million dollars would have been a bargain and saved the NNPC from paying $1.3 billion dollars in damages to Gulf-Petrec.

After a very intensive investigation Pointblanknews.com has concluded that stopping the arbitration was only a small part of the scheme. The main object of this allocation of funds was for Obasanjo and his co-conspirators to lay their hands on as much of the $50 million dollars as possible. After reviewing the documents on file with the US Federal Court and some simple arithmetic, Pointblanknews.com has concluded that the corrupt Nigerians out smarted the corrupt Arbitrators and grabbed the majority of the $50,000,000.00.

The documents accumulated by Gulf-Petrec Investigators and reviewed by Pointblanknews.com; allege that the Arbitration Panel consisting of Andrew Berkeley, Ian Meakin and Hans Van Houtte received only $6,000,000.00 for doing all the dirty work. The law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski was allocated installments that will eventually reach an unconscionable legal fee of $10,000,000.00. Prince Bola Ajibola allocated for himself, $19,000,000.00 and the balance of $15,000,000.00 was most likely divided up between the law firms of Clarke & Paiko who represents NNPC as outside counsel and John Miles of Hunton & Williams (via Mayer-Brown).

The inappropriate conduct of Andrew Berkeley and Prince Bola Ajibola at the final hearing was the undoing of the “perfect crime”. Ajibola entered the hearing room unannounced and as he entered the room Arbitrator Berkeley jumped out of his chair and ran to him and they embraced each other in front of everyone present at the hearing. This motivated Gulf-Petrec to embark on years of investigation, litigation and appeals to bring an apparent fraud perpetrated by the fraudsters to justice.

For the President Yar’Adua and the newly appointed GMD of the NNPC do they just stick their heads in the sand like an Ostrich, thinking that this Legal Demon will go away, or do they begin negotiations for settlement, before the US 5 th Circuit Court of Appeals rules in favor of Gulf-Petrec and puts an end to the legal maneuvering of the NNPC and its corrupt officials?

Pointblanknews.com view the current legal tussle as a huge demon steering in the face of the new government of Nigeria the outcome of which might become a heavy blow not just to Nigeria but International Arbitration. The quick intervention of President Yar’ Adua in this landmark legal tussle will save the country of an imminent embarrassment.