How former Edo Governor, Igbinedion, lost N3.3billion to Venezuelan conmen
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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
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.
Classic 419-scam
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 lucky
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
The 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.
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.
