An Abuja High Court on Wednesday ordered the arrest of the immediate-past attorney-general of the federation, Mohammed Adoke, a former minister of petroleum resources, Dan Etete, and four others, who were implicated in the Malabu Oil scandal. The warrant was issued by Justice D.Z. Senchi of Jabi Federal High Court, to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), prosecuting the case.
The EFCC also got a warrant to arrest Raph Wetzels, Casula Roberto, Pujato Stefeno, and Burrato Sebastiano. All the wanted men were meant to be arraigned before Justice Senchi on Wednesday, April 17, 2019 to face charges related to the Malabu Oil Scandal but failed to show up.
The EFCC had since 2017 pressed charges against Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Co. Ltd, Nigeria Agip Exploration Limited, Eni Spa, Raph Wetzels, Casula Roberto, Pujato Stefeno, Burrato Sebastiano, Duazia Louya Etete (aka Dan Etete), Mohammed Bello Adoke, Aliyu Abubakar and Malabu Oil & Gas Limited. All the defendants declared wanted had repeatedly failed to appear before the court.
In view of their persistent absence in court, the EFCC had through its counsel, Aliyu Yusuf, brought a motion ex parte praying the court for a warrant of their arrest, and an order for leave to execute the warrant outside of the jurisdiction of the court.
The anti-graft agency said the charges bordered on the fraudulent allocation of the Oil Prospecting Licence 245 and money laundering involving the sum of about $1.2bn, forgery of bank documents and bribery. 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.
At Wednesday’s proceeding, Justice Senchi, granted the prayers of the EFCC, and ruled that the Nigeria Police, the INTERPOL and any other law enforcement agency should arrest them anywhere they were found including outside jurisdiction of the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) High Court. The matter was adjourned till July 11, 2019 for further hearing.
