Malabu Deal: Court Grants Arrest Warrant Against Adoke, Dan Etete, Others

An Abuja High Court in Jabi today, Wednesday, ordered the arrest of the immediate-past Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dan Etete, and four others.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC filed charges against the six in relation to the $2.1bn Malabu Oil scam.

Others affected by court’s arrest warrant issued on Wednesday are, Raph Wezels, Casula Roberto, Pujato Stefeno and Burrato Sebastino, and Aliyu Abubakar.

Justice Senchi issued the arrest warrant against the suspects following an ex parte application by the EFCC on Wednesday.

The commission through its lawyer, Mr. Aliyu Yusuf, informed the judge that it had not been able to apprehend the suspects since 2016 and 2017 when it filed two sets of charges against them before the Federal High Court in Abuja.

According to the EFCC, the charges bordered on fraudulent allocation of the  Oil Prospecting Licence 245 and money laundering involving the sum of about $1.2bn, forgery of bank documents, bribery and corruption.

The alleged $1.2bn scam involved the transfer of the OPL 245 purportedly from Malabu Oil and Gas Limited to Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Co. Limited and Nigeria Agip Exploration Limited.

The three companies are defendants in the charges pending before the Federal High Court in Abuja.