A former vice president for Royal Dutch Shell sub-Saharan Africa, Peter Robinson, has been fingered in the $390 million sale of an oilfield in Nigeria. Shell, Reuters reports, has filed a criminal complaint against Robinson over suspected bribes in the sale of an onshore oilfield, Oil Mining Lease (OML) 42, to local company Neconde Energy Ltd in February 2011.
In a statement by a Shell, which is already under investigation over the acquisition of a different Nigerian oilfield, known as OPL 245, the company suspects that Robinson might have committed a crime in relation to the sale of the OML.
“We suspect a crime may have been committed by our former employee, Peter Robinson, against Shell in relation to the sale process for Oil Mining Lease (OML) 42 in Nigeria in 2011,”
“We have filed a criminal complaint with the Dutch authorities and are considering other steps we could take,” the statement read.
The Dutch prosecutors have confirmed the receipt of a complaint against Peter Robinson from Shell.
The prosecutors said the complaint would be included in an ongoing investigation into Shell and Italy’s Eni over the acquisition of the infamous Nigerian oilfield, known as OPL 245.
Peter Robinson has denied the alleged misconduct levelled against him by Shell.
Chiara Padovani, a lawyer representing Robinson, said in a statement that he denied any allegations of misconduct.
Padovani also stressed that Robinson has not been contacted by Dutch authorities about any such complaint as levelled by Shell.
“Our client regrets that an issue between him and his former employer has been drawn into the public domain. He has not been informed of the details of Shell’s complaint against him,” Padovani said.
In the same vein, Neconde Energy has denied allegations it gave kickbacks for the acquisition of the OML 42 in Nigeria.
Neconde Energy in a statement, said it purchased its stake in the field following a competitive bidding round and made no payments to either Robinson, Shell or other companies in order to facilitate it.
“Neconde completely denies any allegation or suspicion of kickback for the acquisition of its interest in OML 42 and the statement credited to Shell suggesting the contrary is untrue and most unfortunate,” the company said.
It is without doubt that a Shell has beamed its searchlight on Robinson, who is one of a number of Shell employees being prosecuted in Milan over OPL 245.
According to Reuters, the new evidence was uncovered after investigators looking into OPL 245 raided Robinson's house in Perth, Australia.
The evidence recovered allegedly included documents showing the former Shell executive had set up a Seychelles-based company, which was later linked to two Swiss bank accounts set up in 2011 also under Robinson’s name.
Shell suspects that the company and the accounts may have been used to process kickbacks, hence the complaints filed by the oil giants to the Swiss Federal Prosecutors.
In court filings, the Milan prosecutor requested that Swiss authorities investigate and freeze two accounts opened at a Geneva bank in the name of Seychelles-based Energy Venture Partners Ltd to check their connection to Robinson.
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