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Statement
Matters arising from the sale of the OPL 245 oil concession
Correspondence between Global Witness – Re:Common –The Corner House and Nigerian Government Officials
Our attention has been drawn to various reports in the Nigerian media that refer to a letter that was sent to us by Attorney-General Adoke. These include, but are not limited to: a Premium Times article entitled, “Update: Reps summon Adoke, accuse him of lying about Malabu fraud;” a This Day article entitled, “House Summons Adoke over Malabu Oil Deal,” and; a The Nation article entitled, “Reps invite Adoke over $1.092b Malabu oil deal.” We have no comment on the articles.
To set the record straight, we can confirm that the letter referred to in these articles was indeed sent to us. We also confirm that in his letter, the Attorney-General stated that, “the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria had instituted a probe into the [OPL 245] transaction and, at the end, they were satisfied that there was no infraction of the Constitution or any other Nigerian law”. The letter, which was dated 20th May 2013, was signed by the Attorney-General.
The letter was in response to a letter that we had sent to the Honourable Minister of Finance, dated 1st May 2013, requesting amongst other matters that she investigate the role of Finance Ministry officials in requesting transfers of funds received from the sale of OPL 245.
It now appears that this correspondence has been reported in the press. In the interest of transparency and accuracy, we are therefore formally putting the Attorney General’s letter to us into the public domain.
For any queries, please contact:
Simon Taylor, Director, Global Witness
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 7957 142 121