How NNPC funded 2015, 2019 elections -Bloomberg
How NNPC funded 2015, 2019 elections -Bloomberg
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation could have contributed to preparations for general elections in 2019; while a former Glencore Plc employee in July had also admitted paying a middleman $300,000 to secure a crude shipment from the NNPC, understanding that the money would be spent on the nationwide vote that took place four years earlier.
A spokesman for the NNPC didn’t respond to three calls and three text messages seeking comment, Bloomberg says.
Jonathan Zarembok, who left BP’s West Africa desk last year, said in the suit that he suspected that fees paid by the U.K. energy giant to obtain NNPC contracts would go toward the 2019 elections. He filed an employment claim against BP, alleging that he was fired for raising concerns about the large sums being transferred to intermediaries to win business in Nigeria.
Zarembok said in a witness statement made public this month that emails sent in 2017 by a BP executive in Nigeria were a “clear red flag” and implied “there would be pressure to pay bribes.” The emails discussed how preparations for elections would get under way in 2018. “We understand what that means,” the executive wrote.
The company then wired $900,000 in fees to a local agent after securing two oil cargoes from NNPC, he said.
