FRESH allegations of corruption have been made against the administration of former president Dr Goodluck Jonathan after it was revealed that government officials got kickbacks from a $969.6m oil deal in Zambia.

Revealed in an ongoing court case in a Zambian court, it is alleged that Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign officials and some other cronies of the ex-president smiled to the banks with up to 50% commission from the proceeds of a foreign crude oil lifting contract. In the middle of the deal is a Nigerian oil and gas company Sarb Energy, which acted as a middleman in a government-to-government crude oil sale between Nigerian and Zambia.

Sarb Energy, incorporated on September 19, 2008, was specifically established for the controversial deal. Apparently, the company has links with at least one political associate of Dr Jonathan, whose five-year reign was characterised by allegations of massive corruption, especially in the oil and gas sector.

Its directors were Nimi Barigha-Amange, a former PDP senator from Bayelsa State, who also served as director of planning, research and strategy for Dr Jonathan’s re-election campaign in 2014, Sylva Ogbogu, a retired army brigadier, Akpan Ekpene, the managing director of the company and Ogba Properties and Investment Company. 

In his testimony to a Zambian court, Mr Ekpene said he sold the idea of the government-to-government crude oil deal to Lusaka in 2008, which then gave his company, Sarb, the power of attorney to execute the contract. Under the deal signed with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Zambian government was to lift 8m barrels of crude oil worth $969.6m.

According to findings, after the deal was sealed on April 20, 2011, Sarb made an initial deposit of $2.5m to the NNPC in the name of the Zambian government. However, rather than Sarb importing the crude for the use of the Zambian government, it was agreed that the company would sell the commodity to other traders, split profit 50:50 with the government and then remit the Zambian government’s share to official administration accounts.

Things went pear-shaped, however, as that did not happen as the Nigerians sold the crude and failed to make payments into Zambian government accounts. Instead, according to Mr. Ekpene, parts of the proceeds were diverted into an account held by Iexoria, a Singapore-based company allegedly controlled by Henry Banda, the Zambian president’s son.

No evidence has emerged till date indicating that Zambia received any revenue from the deal, which sparked controversy across the country, with former President Rupiah Banda charged with multiple violations of that country’s anti-corruption laws. In his testimony during the trial, Mr Ekpene claimed the proceeds of the deal were passed directly to Mr Banda and his family.

He  told the court that his company made two wire transfers worth $550,000 from its Access Bank account in Nigeria to a Barclays Bank account in Singapore owned by Iexoria. Henry Banda, the Zambian president’s son, controlled Iexoria and both transfers were made before that country’s September 2011 general elections, when Mr Banda was still president.

A fake consultancy contract was then drawn up between Sarb and Iexoria to support the payments, stating that Iexoria was supposed to carry out a feasibility study for a power plant. Mr Ekpene admitted in court that the contract was a ruse as no such feasibility study was done and the approach was adopted to deceive Access Bank into authorising the transfers.