Chidi Samuel
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Nigeria’s immediate past President, said Tuesday that he did not receive bribe from a $1.3 billion deal involving oil giants ENI and Shell. He also flatly denied sharing with any one $466 million kickback arising from the deal. The former President was reacting to wide spread media reports that he was indicted by Italian investigators over the ENI oil block purchase scam.
EX President Jonathan made the denial in a statement by his spokesman, Mr Ikechukwu Eze.
According to the statement, “At no time did the former president hold private meetings with representatives of ENI to discuss pecuniary issues.”
“All the meetings and discussions former president Jonathan had with ENI, other IOCs and some indigenous operators were conducted officially, and in the presence of relevant Nigerian government officials and were done in the best interest of the country.”
The statement equally debunked prosecutors’ contention that an agent named Abubakar Aliyu had collected money for the former president.
Jonathan “never sent” Aliyu to “collect any gratification on his behalf”, and the ex-president “does not own any bank account, aircraft or real estate outside Nigeria,” the statement said.
Italian prosecutors late last month released court documents that outline criminal proceedings against the two oil majors and 11 people, including senior executives from the companies.
Jonathan, who left office in May 2015, and Diezani Alison-Madueke, his long-time oil minister do not feature on the list submitted in the court.
But the prosecutors alleged in court papers that they played a key role in the deal in which $466 million went to bribe Nigerian government officials, including Jonathan and Alison-Madueke.
No formal charges have been brought and the parties usually have 20 days to respond to a preliminary investigation report before any formal prosecution.