FORMER President Goodluck Jonathan has denied that he received kickbacks in the $1.3 billion OPL 245 oil deal, involving oil giants, ENI and Royal Dutch Shell.

The reaction follows recent reports where a Russian had allegedly informed the FBI and others that Jonathan might have collected $200 million from the oil block deal.

A statement signed by Jonathan’s media adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, said the former president was not accused, indicted or charged for corruptly collecting any monies as kickbacks or bribes from ENI by the Italian authorities or any other law enforcement body in the world.

He clarified that the negotiations and transactions for the oil block deal predated Jonathan’s administration, which began on May 6, 2010, and ended on May 29, 2015.

“It may interest those promoting this false narrative to know that all the documents relating to the transactions, issues and decisions of the Federal Government, on the Malabo issue, during the Jonathan administration, are in the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

“As president of Nigeria, there is no doubt that Jonathan met with executives of all the oil majors operating in Nigeria and urged them to, among other things, support the growth of the Nigerian oil industry by ramping up their investments and comply with the Local Content Act that he promoted and signed into law.

“We, however, wish to state, for emphasis, that 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 in the presence of relevant Nigerian government officials, and were done in the best interest of the country.

“We make bold to point out that the former president never sent Abubakar Aliyu or anybody else, as the innuendoes in the false report suggest, to ENI, the IOCs or any indigenous operator, to seek favour or collect any gratification on his behalf,” the statement said.

It also pointed out that Jonathan, whether in office or out of office, does not own any bank account, aircraft or real estate outside Nigeria, and challenged anyone with contrary information to publicly publish same.

“As the president who signed the Freedom of Information Act into law, Dr. Jonathan lifted the veil on governance and encouraged transparency, knowing that evil breeds in secrecy. It is the opinion of the former president that journalists and media houses should take advantage of this law in their investigative journalism, rather than rely on hearsay.

“We hope these clarifications will help guide future reports which should be factual.” The Citizen

– Apr 10, 2017 @ 9:38 GMT  

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