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Interpol ‘to Arrest’ Diezani Front-man, Oil Magnate Kola Aluko

Kola who lives in Geneva is a front runner for oil minister Diezani Madukwe

June 9, 2014

Young oil magnate, Kola Aluko, will soon be on the wanted list of International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) following his failure to return to Nigeria to answer questions on his business deals, TheCable has been informed.

Aluko, who is known for his love for yachts, private jets, fast cars and lavish parties ─ and has been seen hand-in-hand with supermodel Naomi Campbell (pictured) ─ has fled the country and is currently holed up in Switzerland, where he has citizenship.

Jonathan and Diezani, the ‘oil godess’

The founder of Fossil Resources, a downstream company, and co-director of Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Limited, an upstream company, has been making tabloid headlines for his astonishing wealth and was recently listed on Forbes 40 richest Africans. However, he has had a dramatic falling out with the minister of petroleum resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, and his assets in Nigeria are now a target for confiscation.

TheCable was told that the federal government has decided to enlist Interpol to arrest and bring him back to Nigeria “to vomit what he has swallowed”. Industry sources informed TheCable that Aluko, who has been named in many controversial deals in the oil sector, might have played “a fast one” on Alison-Madueke.

“It is mainly an issue of breach of trust, breach of a gentleman’s agreement,” a source ─ who is in the know of the deals ─ said. It was initially understood that the oil deals he was getting ─ including mining licences and crude oil trading ─ were meant to finance political campaigns.

Bureaux de change

Over a stretch of time, hundreds of millions of dollars were moved out of the country through banks and bureaux de change by some Nigerian-owned oil companies, Aluko’s inclusive.

Two banks were used to launder the funds out of the country, and, curiously, one of the suspected CEOs has now been given a major political appointment in the financial sector. Trouble started for Aluko when he bought a £150 million yacht last year and it became a global media sensation. This particular development raised eyebrows in the corridors of power. “The long and short of it is that Aluko can no longer account for all the money that he shipped out. That was the beginning of his problems,” another source, a senior official at the ministry of petroleum, said.

Alison-Madueke was “shocked and destabilised at the betrayal” and swiftly moved against the 44-year-old’s businesses. “Kola ran out of the country when they started demanding the cash. He claimed he had already remitted billions and there was nothing to be remitted again. This is one of the biggest scandals in Nigeria since 2010,” the official said.

Kola Aluko’s Yacht bought for 16 Billion Naira

Yachts

Aluko owns luxury property in very expensive and exclusive neighbourhoods across New York, Beverly Hills, London, Las Vegas, Dubai, Paris, Monaco and Miami. He also owns the Galactica Star Yacht, which he acquired in June 2013.

Galactica Star is a one-of-its-kind custom-built Super Yacht. The 65-metre-long play boat is the newest and largest Heesen yacht ever built. All these luxury expenses are believed to have created a big hole for him, although he insisted to friends that he had taken “enough” care of the interest of his principals. Aluko was a beneficiary of controversial oil deals in 2010. A company he has interest in, Septa Energy, a subsidiary of Seven Energy, got oil mining licences for some blocks formerly operated by Shell.

Operatorship

Under the relevant laws, the ownership of the blocks was to revert to the federal government through the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) but the NNPC subsidiary claimed it did not have the funds to operate them. Subsequently, the operatorships of the seven blocks were handed over to a consortium of local companies without any competitive bidding, and the companies were in turn given crude allocation as “equity payment” by NPDC under the Strategic Alliance Agreement (SAA).

However, industry experts and anti-corruption campaigners questioned the wisdom of the deal, especially as it was later discovered that these companies leveraged on the same oil blocks to raise the needed finance.

NPDC could have adopted the same financing option without having to involve the companies and having to pay them with crude oil for its own share of the cost, they argued. To worsen matters, it was calculated that the nation lost $750 million in the deal, as the companies were allowed to pay only $50 million to the federation account instead of the real value of $800 million.

TheCable could not reach either Alison-Madueke or Aluko. While calls to Aluko’s mobile phone did not go through, the minister did not reply messages sent to her phone.

Published June 5 on: http://www.thecable.ng/interpol-to-arrest-oil-magnate-kola-aluko/ | TheCable

EFCC Declares Akpabio’s Money Holder Wanted

June 9, 2014-
By Bassey Ukpe
The alleged custodian of the overseas assets of Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State has taken off.
The guy named Kola Aluko, is on the run from the law over several controversial and fraudulent dealings in the petroleum industry.
The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has declared him wanted.
Aluko, resident in London, is a known face in Akwa Ibom state Government House, Uyo, and in the State Governor’s Lodge, Abuja, where he enjoys unimpeded access.
A young man of 44, he holds the financial interest of Governor Akpabio in their packaged company, Seven Energy, an oil exploration company in which he served a Deputy Chief Executive Officer.
He also holds Governor Akpabio’s investment in Vista Jet, where he also serves as a Director on account of the Governor’s shares.
Aluko, who lives on money made from Akpabio, at the expense of Akwa Ibom people whose N260billion allocation in 2013, could only boast of projects that are as old as 2009, owns the Galactia Star Yacht, a $50 – $100 million 65 meters long boat and the longest Heesen Custom super yacht ever built.
He, along with Jide Omokore, called Leader, are trying to scheme Governor Akpabio out of Seven Energy.
Omokore was once in the limelight when he tried to call a meeting between the Governor, former Secretary to Akwa Ibom State Government, Umana Umana, and former Commissioner for Finance, Bassey Albert Akpan, to settle their differences.
The former SSG is said to to be very close to Omokore who supplies all the foreign currencies used by Governor Akpabio in his mad benevolent dash-dash to politicians in Abuja. Governor Akpabio has also introduced them to his new SSG, Udom Emmanuel, who has entered an agreement with them to patronize their services in 2015 if he becomes Governor as Akpabio’s stooge.
Akwa Ibom people are at a loss to who introduced Akpabio to these 419 businessmen.
They pity him since all his stolen money is in the hands of these men.
Akpabio, they say, does not trust Akwa Ibom people; has not given any Akwa Ibom person, except his family members, contract of up to N5billion. Aluko and others, through their Seven Energy are handling a $33million gas plant project of the state government in Esit Eket.
From SpyGhana, June 10
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