Ednan Agaev, a former Russian diplomat, who once alleged that former President, Goodluck Jonathan, allegedly received $200 million in the controversial Malabu oil deal, has reversed himself on the claim, stressing that the initial statement in which he indicted the former president was made under duress.
Agaev, a middleman and defendant in the case, helped to negotiate the transfer of the OPL 245 oil block to Shell and Eni, two multinationals at the heart of the scandal. He made the new claim last Wednesday while giving evidence before an Italian court in Milan over the controversial Malabu scandal.
According to reports, Agaev’s initial statement was read, but he declined to confirm the statement, claiming he was under pressure in the interview to mention a name.
When confronted with his exact statement alleging that Jonathan may have received money, a defence lawyer interrupted and objected to the evidence on payments to the former president.
Agaev, when further asked whether he thought Jonathan got money from the deal, said his statement to the FBI should be understood that he thought it was a possibility money would go to Jonathan, but he had no evidence.
Commenting on his previous statement, Agaev said it was just speculation, and declined to confirm his statement. It was reported that at this point, the President of the court, however, silenced him even as the lawyer continued to interrupt. He promptly denied any wrongdoing.
In 2017, BuzzFeed quoted a 2017 excerpt of FBI submissions to Italian authorities wherein Agaev alleged that if former Minster of Petroleum, Mr. Dan Etete, actually paid out bribes to Nigerian officials, “Agaev stated that he would think President Goodluck Jonathan got at least $200 million of this money.”
President Jonathan, who has continued to declare his innocence on many occasions, recently described the allegation as “cheap, predictable and recycled falsehood.”
A statement issued in May by Jonathan’s media adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, said: “Former President Goodluck Jonathan did not ask for or collect any bribes neither has he been charged for asking nor collecting bribes nor will he ever be charged with asking for or collecting bribes because such never happened.”
The Malabu scandal involved the transfer of about $1.1 billion by Shell and ENI through the Nigerian Government to accounts controlled by Etete.
The transaction was allegedly authorised in 2011 by Jonathan through some of his cabinet ministers and the money was payment for OPL 245, one of Nigeria’s richest oil blocks.
Speaking at the Milan court last Wednesday, Agaev disclosed that he knew former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, for the first time in 1980s and campaigned for his release in 1990s but didn’t learn about OPL 245 until 2008 when he was working for a Russian oil company.
He further disclosed that he knew the OPL 245 block was revoked because Etete was associated with Malabu, the company that owned the block. He alleged further that Obasanjo said the block was intended for late Sani Abacha, a former Nigerian military ruler.
According to Barnaby Pace, a campaigner at anti-corruption group, Global Witness, who was at the Milan Court, the defendant explained that after Abacha’s death, the company fell to Etete.
Agaev, who started his career for the Soviet Union Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he was a senior official for arms control, disclosed that his job was only to find an investor because Etete was in charge of negotiating with the Nigerian Government and he didn’t need any help or contacts from him.
