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Former president Goodluck Jonathan and some of his officials have been alleged by the federal government of failing to document fraudulent payments made in the controversial Malabu oil scandal.
        According to Premium Times, The government made the allegation in a fresh argument presented through its lawyers during a case management conference on Thursday, July 11. It was gathered that the argument was presented on behalf of the government by attorneys representing Nigeria, including Roger Masefield, Richard Blakeley, and Ben Woolgar. It was learnt that other officials named by the government as accomplices are the former minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, and former attorney general of the federation, Bello Adoke. According to the online news medium, the government had in May accused Jonathan and Allison-Madueke of accepting bribes and breaking the country’s laws to broker the $1.3 billion oil deal in 2011. In the papers advancing the London commercial court suit against oil multinational Shell and Eni, lawyers to the Nigerian government said the officials conspired to “receive bribes and make a secret profit,” keeping the government from getting what it was owed from the deal. “Bribes were paid. The receipt of those bribes and the participation in the scheme of said officials was in breach of their fiduciary duties and Nigerian criminal law,” the online news platform reported. In his reaction, Jonathan, who is not under any probe on the matter, fiercely denied the allegation. A statement by Ikechukwu Eze, media adviser to the former president, described the allegation that Jonathan acted corruptly and may have received bribes as “recycled falsehood that is blatantly dishonest, cheap, and predictable.” The controversial Malabu scandal involves the transfer of about $1.1 billion by oil multinationals, Shell and ENI, through the Nigerian government to accounts controlled by a former Nigerian oil minister, Dan Etete. Prosecutors alleged that half the money ($520 million) went to the accounts of companies jointly controlled by Abubakar Aliyu, popularly known in Nigeria as the owner of AA oil, and Etete. Investigators and activists suspect, Aliyu, was said to have fronted for top officials of Jonathan’s administration, as well of officials of Shell and ENI.