By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Nigeria's financial crimes
watchdog charged a former attorney general suspected of taking
bribes to facilitate a $1.3 billion oil block sale, the agency
said on Tuesday, in the latest twist in one of the industry's
biggest alleged corruption scandals.
An international investigation into the 2011 sale of the
offshore oilfield known as OPL 245 by Malabu Oil and Gas has
entangled two of the industry's biggest players, Shell RDSa.L
and Eni ENI.MI , as well as an array of powerful figures from
the previous Nigerian government.
Mohammed Adoke, Nigeria's ex-attorney general, was charged
with receiving the U.S. dollar equivalent of 300 million naira
in 2013 to facilitate the OPL 245 deal and help waive taxes for
Shell and Eni, according to a charge sheet filed in an Abuja
high court last week.
Reuters was unable to reach Adoke or his lawyer for
immediate comment. The lawyer had previously said the former
attorney general was confident he will be vindicated in court.
Shell's and Eni's local subsidiaries were also charged with
illegally assisting Adoke in waiving the taxes, according to the
sheet.
Malabu was owned by former petroleum minister Dan Etete.
Shell and Eni, and their executives, have denied any
wrongdoing. Etete has also denied wrongdoing.
Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission detained
Adoke, who served as attorney general from 2010 to 2015, in
December, after Interpol arrested him in Dubai in November.