A former high-ranking official of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) is facing federal charges in the United States over an alleged $2.1 million bribery scheme involving a Chinese oil company.
According to data from the United States Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, Paulinus Okoronkwo, a 67-year-old dual US-Nigerian citizen residing in California, has been indicted on multiple counts, including engaging in monetary transactions derived from unlawful activity, tax evasion, and obstruction of justice.
The indictment alleges that Okoronkwo accepted the bribe during his tenure as general manager of NNPC’s upstream division while negotiating drilling rights for a subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned oil company.
“In this capacity, Okoronkwo held a fiduciary responsibility to NNPC and the Nigerian people and was considered a public official,” stated the United States Attorney’s Office, Central District of California in a statement reviewed by BusinessDay.
In October 2015, Addax Petroleum, a Switzerland-based subsidiary of Sinopec, a Chinese state-owned petroleum conglomerate, wired $2,105,263 to an Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Account (IOLTA) linked to Okoronkwo’s Los Angeles law firm, ostensibly for consultancy services related to a settlement agreement with NNPC regarding drilling rights in Nigeria.
According to US authorities, Addax feared substantial financial losses if it failed to secure favorable drilling rights. The engagement letter purportedly signed between Addax and Okoronkwo’s law firm, under a fictitious Lagos address, was allegedly designed to mask the payment as a bribe for influencing financial terms regarding oil drilling in Nigeria.
To disguise the illicit scheme, Addax misrepresented the payment as legal fees, misled auditors about its nature, and terminated an executive who questioned its legitimacy. Okoronkwo allegedly received the bribe in his law firm’s IOLTA to create the false impression that it constituted client funds.
In November 2017, Okoronkwo purportedly utilized $983,200 of the illicit funds to purchase a residence in Valencia.
In addition to money laundering charges, Okoronkwo faces allegations of tax evasion for omitting the bribe from his 2015 federal tax return and obstruction of justice for providing false information to investigators during a June 2022 interview.
While an indictment contains allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, Okoronkwo faces a maximum sentence of 35 years in federal prison if convicted on all counts, with each charge carrying potential lengthy imprisonment terms.
This case underscores the global dimensions of corruption within the oil industry and the elaborate methods employed to conceal such activities. As Okoronkwo awaits arraignment in a Los Angeles federal court, the repercussions for NNPC, Addax Petroleum, and the industry at large are being closely monitored by international observers and law enforcement agencies.
