Lucky Igbinedion
Mr. Igbinedion, who stole his state blind while he was
governor, has now been scammed of billions by Venezuelan fraudsters in a
classic 419 deal
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Nemesis may have finally caught up with ex-convict and former
Governor of Edo State, Lucky Igbinedion, as he has lost over N3.3
billion to Venezuelan fraudsters, in a deal that bears all the marks of a
classic 419 scam, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively reveal.Court documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES also suggest that Mr. Igbinedion may be insolvent, as two US-based law firms have walked away from a $600 million lawsuit he instituted against the alleged mastermind and the Venezuelan state owned oil company, Petroleos De Venezuela S.A (PDVSA), over his inability to pay retainer as low as N627,000.00 ($3,800.00).
Mr. Igbinedion plundered Edo State treasury for the eight years he was governor. He escaped jail after he reached a controversial plea bargain agreement with the Farida Waziri-led Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, which dropped all but one of the 191 charges of corruption and money laundering against him.
In 2008, a Federal High Court in Enugu sentenced him to six months in prison with the option of a N3.5 million fine. The controversial plea bargain agreement he reached with the EFCC also required that he return N500 million and three of the houses he acquired with stolen public funds to the Federal Government.
But it’s not yet Uhuru for Mr. Igbinedion as the Court of Appeal in Benin ruled on April 9, 2014 that he has a case to answer over a fresh 66-count money laundering and financial impropriety suit brought against him by the EFCC. A Federal High Court had ruled in 2011 that it would amount to double jeopardy and abuse of court process to try him again after the plea bargain he entered with the EFCC.
He has been accused of stealing over N3 billion from Edo State’s treasury.
Two of a kind: James Ibori (left), Lucky Igbinedion (right). Both are confirmed thieves.
In 2006, looking to cash in on the lucrative but fraud-tainted fuel importation business, the ex-governor’s front and Managing Director of Skanga Energy and Marine Limited, a company formed by Mr. Igbinedion and his brother, Bright, in 1992, Christian Imoukhuede, approached the then Venezuelan Trade Consul to Nigeria, Enrique Arrundell, about the prospect of importing petrol, aviation fuel, and diesel from the South American country.
According to documents filed with a US District Court in New York, Mr. Arrundell advised Mr. Imoukhuede that the best way to get fuel was to go through a PDVSA approved agent.
Mr. Arrundell then introduced Mr. Imoukhuede to Arevenca, a fraudulent firm owned by alleged notorious Venezuelan conman, Francisco Gonzalez.
That meeting with Mr Gonzalez marked the beginning of Mr Igbinedion’s woes.
Mr. Igbinedion and his front, Mr. Imoukhuede claimed in court that they did due diligence checks on Arevenca through the Venezuelan embassy in Abuja. They claim that embassy officials confirmed Arevenca as a reputable Venezuelan business concern and validated documents provided by Arevenca that supposedly showed a relationship with PDVSA.
But it has since turned out that Arevenca might be a complete fraud. PDVSA has since said in court that it has no records of any relationship with Arevenca.
Arevenca is a registered corporation under Venezuelan law but was most recently headquartered in Aruba. Its subsidiaries are: Arevenca AKTM, registered in British Virgin Islands; Arevenca SL, registered in Spain; and Arevenca Aruba Holding NV.
Others are Arevenca Bank, Arevenca Foundation, Fly Aruba Suriname, Arevenca Mining and Arevenca Petroleum Company registered in offshore tax haven, Suriname. There is Arevenca Finances Holding registered in Switzerland and Arevenca Ivory Coast.
Many of these subsidiaries are shell companies or exist only in names.
A Canadian-based freelance journalist, Steven Bodzin, who worked as an energy reporter in Venezuela and has written a number of exposés on Arevenca, revealed that Arevenca’s website is a repository of mind-numbing lies meant to hoodwink mostly unsuspecting international investors.
For instance, on its website, Arevenca claims to have a global refining capacity of 2.5 million barrels per day and plans to build a two million barrel per day refinery in Ivory Coast.
It also claims to have a fleet of 72 ships.
However, the company with the highest refining capacity in the world as at September 2013, Reliance Jamnagar Refinery, India, has a refining capacity of only 1.24 million barrels per day.
In fact, Arevenca is not listed among the top ten refineries in the world. The only Venezuela-based refinery in the top 10, Paraguana Refining Centre, belongs to PDVSA and has a processing capacity of just 955,000bpd.
And despite claiming to have 75 vessels, a PREMIUM TIMES search on Lloyds Ship Directories shows that Arevenca does not operate from any of Venezuelan’s 16 ports. There is also no proof that the company is building a two million barrel per day refinery in Ivory Coast as it claimed.
These are just few of the web of lies contained in Arevenca’s website. Other false claims made by the company to defraud investors can be found on Mr. Bodzin’s blog.
In October 2006, Mr. Imoukhuede, who was Mr. Igbinedion’s schoolmate, arrived at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas and was ushered into the VIP lounge of the facility and later given a luxury ride to the exquisite InterContinental Tamanaco, rated among the top three hotels in the country.
It was at Intercontinental Tamanaco that Mr. Imoukhuede had initial negotiation with Mr. Gonzalez and an unnamed Nigerian.
After the meeting, Skanga reached a tentative agreement to buy “petroleum products” from Arevenca. Arevenca also agreed to give Skanga the first right of refusal to buy its AGO (diesel), PMS (premium motor spirit) DPK (kerosene), Jet Al fuel, Bitumen and Fuel oil.
The deal was to take off with a 35,000 metric tones of AGO in the first instance and then grow into about three cargoes monthly, according to an official statement by Skanga.
Bank transfer documents show that Skanga paid $1.05 million of the $1.4 million cost of freight.
Skanga’s officials claimed during interrogation in court that their company made these payments ($580,000 and $470,000) based on the proof of certain “inducement documents which included an alleged PDVSA bill of lading.
After Skanga made these initial payments, it became trapped. The duping of the former governor and his corrupt clan began in full swing.
Igbinedion goes to Caracas
In January 2007, four months before the expiration of his governorship term, Mr. Igbinedion travelled to Caracas, ostensibly on an official visit and possibly lavishing Edo state money on the deal. But our investigations indicate the visit was to put finishing touches to the deal earlier reached by his front three months earlier.
According to the Bolivarian News Agency (ABN), Mr. Igbinedion and his entourage were purportedly met by some of the influential “Chavista” politicians in the country, as supporters of the late Venezuelan leader, Hugo Chávez, are called: the Mayor of Central Caracas, Freddy Bernal, the Governor of Miranda, Diosdado Cabello, and Deputy Foreign Minister for Africa, Reinaldo Bolívar as well as other top Venezuelan government officials and businessmen.
It was an elaborate event accompanied by lavish photo op, expensive alcohol and dinner in the evening at the “Gran Melia Hotel, another top three luxury hotel in Venezuela, according to luxury hotel reservations website, Five Star Alliance.
Mr. Igbinedion was handed the key to the city of Caracas and announced as the “Alcaldía de Libertador”, the honorary Mayor of the central Caracas borough of Libertador. He also held a meeting with top officials of the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry at their headquarters, the Yellow House.
But the whole fanfare was a grand charade and part of a well orchestrated confidence trick put together by some of the most devious conmen in Latin America.
It later appeared that Mr. Gonzalez received an intensive course on Nigerian niceties. Emails from Mr. Arrundell and Gonzalez to Mr. Igbinedion have that uniquely Nigerian informality. Rather than write in a formal manner as one would have expected of parties in a multi-million dollar deal, they addressed Mr. Igbinedion as “My brother Lucky” or “Dear brother Lucky.”
One letter by Mr. Gonzalez, filled with grammatical errors, reads:
Dear brother luckyThe geniality of Mr. Gonzalez’s letters coupled with the grand reception, some would say deception, he got during his “official” visit to Caracas apparently made Mr. Igbinedion even more trusting of the Venezuelan gang.
I already send the dignity signed invoice. You know what this mean. Nobody do this, but I always honored my word, agins all the logical and normal status. I prefer died that do not honored my word. This is another demonstration that I am a honor man. That mean that the product is yours. I trust you like a brother I hope you do not let me down. I do not want disappoint you, I hope you do not disappoint me.
Best regards, You brother and friend
Francisco JAvier Gonzalez
Nigerian thief, money launderer, is scammed
After a couple of other meetings later that year, Arevenca made Skanga a deal too good to be true: a consignment of 35,000 metric tonnes of diesel will be sent to Skanga.
All it needed to do was to prepay the charges for delivery and complete the full payment for the delivery in three months.
Mr. Igbinedion could not believe his luck. Skanga promptly transferred $19.6 million more to Arevenca’s Swiss bank account as freight charges and partial payment for two consignments of Petrol and diesel aboard two vessels named “Digniti” and “Ventur.”
The vessels never arrived.
The Nigerian Port Authority said it does not have any record of “Digniti” or “Ventur” entering Nigerian waters at the time it was billed to arrive.
In fact, PREMIUM TIMES investigation reveals that there are no vessels named “Dignitii” or “Ventur”.
Searches on Lloyds directories and other ship directories show that the ship don’t exist anywhere in the world.
All efforts made to contact the Venezuelan embassy to confirm the extent to which Mr. Arrundell, who has been posted out of the country, was involved in the scam was unsuccessful.
The embassy’s phone number seems to be out of order and emails were returned as undelivered.
Mr. Imoukhuede declined to comment when contacted by PREMIUM TIMES. He explained that since the case is in court, Skanga’s lawyer was in the best position to make public comments on the matter.
“You know the case is in court. I don’t think I am at ease to talk about it. I would have to talk to the lawyer. I can’t make any comment. The Nigerian legal system is different from the American system. The best thing is to talk to Femi Salu,” he said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The remaining parts in this series will look at courtroom intrigues; how two of Igbinedion’s American counsel abandoned the case due to his inability to pay their retainer.
A part will look at the role played by MRS Oil Nigeria Limited plus interesting revelations in court while another will take a look at the role of the Venezuelan authorities in the entire scam.
Lucky Igbinedion
Although money laundering cases against him show that Lucky
Igbinedion may have stolen several millions of dollar from the treasury
of Edo State during the eight years he was governors, details from a
court case he instituted againstVenezuelan state owned oil company,
Petroleos De Venezuela S.A (PDVSA) and alleged conman, Fransisco
Gonzalez, suggest that the scam may have caused serious damage to his
finances.In 2007 the ex-governor lost over N3 billion to Venezuelan fraudsters in a botched fuel import deal. He has since instituted a $600 million suit against PDVSA and Mr. Gonzalez in a U.S. District Court in New York.
Court documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES revealed that two Manhattan-based law firms previously contracted by Igbinedion’s company, Skanga Energy and Marine limited, have withdrawn from the case over non-payment of their retainer.
One of them, a personal injury law firm, Robert Dunne LLC, quit because of the inability of Mr. Igbinedion’s Skanga to pay fee as low as $3,800.00 (N627,000).
“Plaintiff has failed and refused to pay Dunne Firm fees reasonably earned for legal services rendered, although demand for such payment has been made several times,” an affidavit informing the court of its decision to withdraw for the case read.
The other law firm, Robinson Brog Leinwand Greene Genovese & Gluck P.C, also complained that efforts to establish direct communication with Skanga had been difficult as the company preferred to be reached through a Mississippi-based Nigerian owned “two lawyer” (husband and wife) law firm, Salu & Salu.
Two of a kind: James Ibori (left), Lucky Igbinedion (right). Both are confirmed thieves.
According to David Burger, Skanga owes his law firm a total of $114,000 (N18,810,000) in unpaid fee.
Olufemi Salu, of Salu & Salu, also admitted to the court that the scam has rendered Mr. Igbinedion and his businesses insolvent. In fact, on 23 August 2013, it filed a motion asking the court to compel PDVSA to pay for the travel expenses and lodging of its estranged attorney, Mr Dunne, for the deposition of its own officials in Lagos.
“The action of PDVSA, subject matter of this lawsuit, crippled the business of Plaintiff. Plaintiff currently struggles to pay its attorneys. Court should take judicial notice that Plaintiff’s previous attorneys withdrew their representation over dispute regarding attorneys’ fees. Consequently, Plaintiff is unable to afford deposition scheduled in Nigeria,” he argued.
Now Igbinedion is stuck with Mr. Salu, a lawyer based in Mississippi-Tennessee. Though he claimed to have represented major international corporations like “Texaco, Mobil Oil, Chase Manhattan Bank, ship owners, and foreign governments”, his areas of expertise are personal injury, car accidents and fatal car accidents.
Pitching Mr. Salu against lawyers from upscale law firm like Foley Hoag LLP looks like a rigged contest. Foley Hoag is based in Boston, Massachusetts, with offices in Washington DC and Paris. Ranked number six in the “20 Best Law Firms To Work For In The Nation”, by U.S. company rating organisation, Vault, Foley Hoag was involved in Boston’s early civil rights struggle and won the 1970 lawsuit that brought desegregation to Boston public schools. In 2008, the firm successfully represented the government of Bolivia in the dispute over the nationalisation of telecom company, Entel.
This mismatch was apparent as Mr. Salu was literally taken to school by Lawrence Martin, a top partner from Foley Hoag’s Washington office. Mr Salu did not help his case as he made contradictory statements and his transcript appeared to have been written in a hurry.
In one utterly ridiculous instance, Mr. Salu, despite being presented with Skanga’s Statement of Annual Returns 2006-2008 certified as true by the Corporate Affairs Commission and the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, argued that Skanga directors weren’t aware that such filling has been made.
Clearly stated in the documents were the shareholders of Skanga and the number of shares they owned, yet Mr. Salu said, “Skanga’s Directors were not aware of these filings.”
Further, in a desperate attempt to discredit the defendant, Mr. Salu unwittingly revealed that Skanga might have been consistently submitting false statements of return to the CAC. He argued that the court should disregard Skanga’s CAC certified Statement of Returns presented by the defendant on the ground that the accounting firm employed by Skanga to audit its account, Dynamic Premier, has no listed address and “is not related to any professional entity as it is customary in Nigeria and the rest of the world.”
Mr. Salu did not reply written questions PREMIUM TIMES sent to him via email about his involvement in the case. He also did not return calls made to his office phone number.
String of misfortunes
The Venezuelan affair is one in the series of financial losses the mustachios ex-governor has suffered since he left office. A business stint gone awry in South Africa saw him losing millions of dollars. According to news reports, After the death of his South African partner in a joint venture, Mr. Igbinedion tried but failed to reclaim his investment in the business, which he did through his late partner to avoid South African regulators on the lookout for investors with dirty money.
Mr. Igbinedion then moved his business base to Sierra Leone where Skanga became one of the leading fishing companies in the country. It is alleged that Mr. Igbinedion also owns some of the most expensive real estates in the country. However, Sierra Leonean media reports suggest that Skanga may also be going through a difficult phase in the West African country. There was a report about violent protests against the company by dissatisfied youth.
The loss of over N3 billion to the fraudster in the oil import deal also appears to have sounded the death knell of Skanga operations in Nigeria. When PREMIUM TIMES visited Skanga’s official address in upscale Victoria Island, the premises had been overtaken by weeds and looked desolate. In fact, the Lagos State government has sealed the property for defaulting on land use tax and has placed a notice for an order to sell the property.
Intrigues and lies
True to the observation of Skanga’s first law firm, Robinson Brog, the company has approached the lawsuit in manner that left more to be desired. The firm has done everything to shield important persons involved in the case from testifying. In utter disregard of facts contained in officially verified documents, it has lied about the ownership of the company, and under curious circumstances, has alleged losing certain vital documents requested by defence counsels.
It seems Skanga’s approach to pursuing the lawsuit is to tell lies and which it further attempts to cover up by more lies.
During his deposition, which was conducted via Skype, Mr Igbinedion said he could not remember when Skanga was established. He also denied ever holding any shares in Skanga. But certified copies of Skanga’s Statement of Annual Returns show that Mr. Igbinedion was the principal shareholder of Skanga with 12 million shares.
Mr. Igbinedion also lied about his money laundering conviction. He said he was convicted for what he termed “political negligence.” He also lied that the Federal government seized none of his properties.
Mr. Salu further described Mr Igbinedion’s money laundering trial and conviction as “a corrupt political inquisition that is fairly common in Nigerian politics.”
“After he served his two terms in office and left office, political opponents instituted kangaroo criminal proceedings against him for ‘neglect’ in listing one of his personal accounts that had been dormant for a while. His fine was less than $20,000, that is, the amount in the account at the time,” he said.
Curiously, six years after it first instituted the lawsuit, Skanga has not served Arevenca and Mr González a notice of the suit and in fact has not made any effort to serve them, according to court documents.
Skanga also refused to share the record of its correspondence with Arevenca when requested by PDVSA lawyers. Managing Director of Skanga, Christian Imoukhuede claimed his Yahoo email account was hacked and he lost access to it. He said he lost the mails in his inbox, sent, trash and all his contacts after Yahoo restored the email. However, He said the emails in his inbox was “partially restored” after he changed his browser from Mozilla Firefox to Internet Explorer.
A computer scientist, Alexander Gessen, employed by PDVSA to do a forensic analysis of Mr. Imoukhuede’s laptop said his account of how he lost the emails was not “credible.”
“Merely switching internet browser is not an industry recognized method of recovering deleted emails. Nor does it offer plausible explanation why inbox items would be restored, but sent items would not be. I am not aware of any way in which merely switching Internet browsers would result in recovery of deleted emails,” he said.
Just like it did with Bright Igbinedion, Skanga also did everything possible to shield another director, Adebayo Osho from appearing as witnesses. It particularly contested the deposition of Mr. Osho who was its Nigerian lawyer and a listed shareholder of the company with 2.5 million shares. Mr. Osho is the proprietor of the law firm, Adebayo Osho and Company, Skanga’s lawyers objected to the deposition of Mr. Osho on the ground that he was the company lawyer and might break the client-lawyer confidentiality during deposition.
Efforts by PREMIUM TIMES to interview Mr. Osho were unsuccessful. A lawyer who has an office at the same address as him said he vacated his office three years ago without leaving his new contact address. All the contact phone numbers on his website were also not functional.
The next part of this series will look at the involvement of Nigerian oil firm, MRS, in the deal and the role played by former Venezuelan ambassador to Nigeria, Enrique Arrundell.
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