Ex-NNPC official faces 25 years in US prison over $2.1m bribery scandal

A former senior staff of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Paulinus Iheanacho Okoronkwo, has been convicted in the United States over a multi-million-dollar bribery scheme tied to oil deals.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California, Okoronkwo, a 58-year-old lawyer, was found guilty of, three counts of transactional money laundering, one count of tax evasion, and one count of obstruction of justice.

The case, which centers on a $2.1 million bribery scandal linked to Addax Petroleum, a Swiss subsidiary of Sinopec, exposed how illicit payments were allegedly funneled through oil transactions involving Nigerian operations.

His sentencing has been fixed for December 1, 2025.

Court documents revealed that in October 2015, Okoronkwo allegedly received $2,105,263 into his law firm’s account from Addax Petroleum.

The payment was presented as consultancy fees for negotiating a settlement agreement with the NNPC concerning Addax’s drilling rights in Nigeria.

However, US prosecutors said the “consultancy” was nothing more than a ruse to disguise a bribe. The so-called engagement letter between Addax and Okoronkwo’s firm, which listed a fake Lagos address was described as an attempt to cover up the illicit transaction.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) stressed that the payment was in exchange for Okoronkwo’s influence in securing favourable oil agreements in Nigeria.

Beyond the bribery scheme, prosecutors accused Okoronkwo of deliberately omitting the $2.1 million bribe from his 2015 federal income tax return, constituting tax evasion.

He was also convicted of obstructing justice after allegedly making efforts to mislead investigators and conceal the origin of the funds.

The DoJ said his actions amounted to an orchestrated financial crime that undermined both Nigerian and US anti-corruption laws.

Okoronkwo’s troubles began in January 2024, when he was indicted by a US federal grand jury on five counts, including money laundering, tax evasion, and obstruction of justice.

Back in Nigeria, the former NNPCL official had already faced backlash over his involvement in questionable oil deals.

According to Bashir Ahmad, a former aide to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, Okoronkwo was dismissed by NNPC after the scandal came to light.

Ahmad disclosed in a May 2024 tweet that Okoronkwo had been a general manager in the upstream department of NNPC and was part of a team that, on May 25, 2015 just days before former President Goodluck Jonathan left office finalised a controversial agreement with Addax Petroleum.

That deal, Ahmad claimed, cost Nigeria a staggering $2.4 billion.

Okoronkwo’s conviction underscores growing scrutiny of corrupt deals struck during the final days of Jonathan’s administration.

If the court imposes the maximum penalty, Okoronkwo could spend up to 25 years in an American prison, closing a chapter on one of the most high-profile cases linking Nigeria’s oil industry to international bribery.

(Punch)