The Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI) has called for an investigation of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over a $500,000 payment made to his then-wife, Jennifer Douglas, by Sunrise Power promoter Leno Adesanya in 2003….
The Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI) has called for an investigation of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over a $500,000 payment made to his then-wife, Jennifer Douglas, by Sunrise Power promoter Leno Adesanya in 2003.
The call followed the recent ruling of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration tribunal on the long-running dispute between Sunrise Power and the Federal Government over the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project.
IMPI, in a policy brief signed by its Chairman, Dr Omoniyi Akinsiju, said its review of the more than 600-page tribunal ruling showed that the circumstances surrounding the payment warranted further investigation by Nigerian authorities.
The $500,000 was transferred on January 30, 2003, from the Swiss bank account of China Castle Investments Limited, an offshore company controlled by Adesanya, to a US bank account belonging to Douglas.
The payment came less than four months before Sunrise was purportedly awarded the Mambilla Build, Operate and Transfer contract.
According to the ICC tribunal, Adesanya said the payment was part of a foreign-exchange transaction conducted for Atiku.
However, the tribunal found that the explanation was not supported by documentary evidence, noting that Adesanya did not produce records showing the underlying naira payment, exchange rate, instructions from Atiku or his aides, correspondence or other documentation establishing the commercial purpose of the transaction.
IMPI said the payment was central to questions surrounding the original concessioning of the Mambilla project.
“For us, the crux of the Mambilla-ICC saga is the $500,000 cash transfer and the purpose it was supposed to serve in securing the Mambilla Power project concession.”
The group said the tribunal’s findings constituted what it described as “significant red flags”, particularly given the timing of the payment and Adesanya’s efforts to secure the Mambilla project.
It also questioned the relationship between the payment and Atiku’s position as Vice President at the time.
The tribunal noted that Atiku had led a Nigerian government delegation to Beijing in July 2002 that included Adesanya, during which the Nigerian government and Chinese state-owned NCPEC signed a memorandum of understanding covering, among other projects, the Mambilla project.
IMPI argued that Atiku’s assertion that he was not a member of the official procurement panel did not, by itself, settle questions about possible executive influence.
The policy group cited the tribunal’s observation that Atiku exercised a “considerable degree of power and influence” over federal administrative affairs during the period.
It, however, acknowledged that the arbitration tribunal did not establish a direct quid pro quo or find that Atiku actually used his official position to secure the Mambilla contract for Sunrise.
The ICC tribunal expressly stated that there was no evidence before it that Atiku had exercised his duties as a government official in a manner that facilitated the award of the contract to Sunrise.
Nevertheless, the tribunal said it could not accept Adesanya’s explanation of the $500,000 as a bona fide foreign-exchange transaction and could not exclude the possibility that the payment was related to Atiku’s role in the Federal Government in connection with the Mambilla project.
IMPI said the circumstances therefore warranted scrutiny by Nigerian investigative and judicial institutions, including the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
It also questioned whether the payment was properly declared, arguing that the circumstances surrounding the transaction raised issues of public accountability and possible conflict of interest.
The policy group said the ICC proceedings, although primarily concerned with contractual claims between Sunrise Power and Nigeria, had exposed issues that should be independently examined by Nigerian authorities.
The Mambilla dispute centres on a 2003 BOT contract involving Sunrise Power for the development of the hydroelectric project.
The company subsequently commenced arbitration proceedings against Nigeria, with the dispute eventually generating billions of dollars in potential claims.
The ICC tribunal recently rejected the related claims.
