UK Police Probing Shell, ENI Nigerian Oil Block Deal

The investigations highlight the regulatory risks faced by oil companies doing business in African countries with a history of weak governance and endemic corruption.

In the five years Abacha was in power, he liberally dished out oil blocks to political allies and is suspected of having enriched himself to the tune of about $4 billion before he died.

Malabu had been registered on April 24th, 1998, five days before Etete awarded it block OPL 245. Three months later, Abacha died.

Though Malabu's original shareholders had been Abacha's son and allies - and Etete himself, according to the British judge in Obi's court case - the company secretary Rasky Gbinigie told the court he had lost all the documents showing who owned it now.

The ownership of OPL 245 had also been unclear ever since the government annulled the initial award to Malabu in 2001, and then awarded it first to Shell and then back to Malabu after a series of court cases.

Shell was still pursuing action to recover the block when it finally struck the deal to buy it with ENI in 2011.

(Reporting by Tim Cocks)


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