Mohammed Indimi, founder Oriental Energy Resources
Officials of the Serious Fraud Office, a non-ministerial government agency in charge of serious crimes in the United Kingdom may use Interpol to scan the books and transactions of Oriental Energy Resources, a Nigerian oil company owned by Mohammed Indimi, son in-law to President Muhammadu Buhari.
This followed the conviction of Osman Shahenshah, the former CEO of Afren, and Shahid Ullah, the former COO, who took $45 million from a secret deal they made with Indimi’s company. Both men have already been convicted and sentencing is reserved for Monday, October 29 at Southwark Crown Court by 10 am. The trial lasted for six weeks.
Both men have admitted to SFO that part of the kickback was shared with top staff of Indimi’s company who helped to oil the kick-back process. The UK security operatives have now set their mind on using Nigerian and international anti-graft agencies to unearth who took what in Buhari’s in-law’s company.
The conviction of the two Afren chiefs has given a new lead to the growing inquest by UK security authorities to connect the usually sleazy Nigerian oil industry to money laundering using the UK as conduit. Nigeria, China and Russia have always topped lists of nations with high volume of slush funds which found their way into the UK property markets and elsewhere.
The Afren-Oriental Energy Resources deal was said to have confirmed the suspicion of British anti-graft hawks who had been combing the UK banks and allied offices for clues on how to check the rising incidence of money laundering.
The two Afren chiefs were said to have tricked the Afren board into investing $300 million in a deal in Nigeria. They didn’t disclose that the partner, Oriental Energy Resources Ltd, would kick back 15 percent or $45 million to a Caribbean shell company they controlled.
They used $17 million for themselves, buying luxury homes in Mustique and the British Virgin Islands. They split the rest with some of the partner’s employees.
The SFO said Shahenshah and Ullah struck the secret side deal to “increase their pay” after Afren’s shareholders objected to their salaries of £6.6 million ($8.5 million) and £3.8 million ($4.9 million).
Shahenshah, 56, and Ullah, 59, were found guilty by the jury at Southwark Crown Court of one count of fraud by abuse of position and two charges of money laundering.
The jury acquitted them of a second count of fraud for a $100 million payment connected to a management buyout at another partner, Amni International Petroleum Development Company.
SFO director Lisa Osofsky said Shahenshah and Ullah “failed in their duties as company directors, abused their positions, and lied to their board.”
“Instead of acting in their company’s best interests, they used Afren like a personal bank account to fund an illicit deal, with no regard for the consequences,” she said.
Afren’s internal investigation uncovered the fraud in 2014.
The SFO started a criminal investigation after Afren collapsed in June 2015. The defendants were charged in September last year. The oil exploration firm was once a FTSE 250 company with a market cap of more than $2.6 billion.
