Malabu Oil: Court Acquits Aliyu Abubakar, Seven Others Of Money Laundering

By Adedapo Adesanya

A Federal High Court in Abuja has discharged and acquitted businessman Mr Aliyu Abubakar and seven others of money laundering, criminal misappropriation, forgery and other charges relating to the management of funds belonging to Malabu Oil and Gas Limited.

In two separate judgments, Justice Inyang Ekwo held that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) failed to prove the allegations contained in two charges comprising a total of 53 counts.

The first judgment concerned a 43-count charge filed against Mr Abubakar, Malabu Oil and six other companies.

Justice Ekwo held that the EFCC was wrong to have proceeded with the prosecution despite a 2018 letter from the Attorney-General of the Federation directing that the defendants should not be prosecuted due to insufficient evidence.

The second judgment concerned a separate 10-count charge in which Abubakar was the sole remaining defendant.

Former Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Mohammed Adoke, who was initially listed as the first defendant in the case, was discharged after the court upheld his no-case submission in a ruling delivered on April 19, 2024.

The Malabu Oil case is linked to the controversial transaction involving Oil Prospecting Licence 245 (OPL 245), one of Nigeria’s most valuable offshore oil blocks.

The latest Nigerian judgments represent another development in the long-running legal dispute surrounding the management of funds linked to Malabu Oil and Gas Limited and the controversial OPL 245 transaction.

The oil licence was awarded to Malabu Oil and Gas Limited in 1998, during the administration of former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha. The allocation later became controversial because of alleged conflicts of interest involving former petroleum minister Dan Etete, who was linked to the company.

In 2011, oil companies Shell and Eni agreed to pay approximately $1.3 billion in connection with the acquisition of rights to OPL 245. The transaction involved the Nigerian government as part of efforts to resolve disputes over ownership of the oil block.

However, the deal subsequently became the subject of investigations in Nigeria and abroad over allegations that a substantial portion of the funds was diverted to politicians and intermediaries. The allegations prompted criminal proceedings involving claims of money laundering, bribery and other financial offences.

The defendants denied wrongdoing, while the legal proceedings produced different outcomes across jurisdictions. In 2021, a court in Milan, Italy, acquitted Shell, Eni and the defendants in the Italian criminal proceedings.