Court discharges Aliyu Abubakar,Malabu Oil from EFCC money laundering suits
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday discharged and acquitted Malabu Oil and Gas Limited, other companies, and AA Oil Chairman Aliyu Abubakar in two separate alleged money laundering suits filed by the Economic…
The Malabu Oil and Gas scandal, centred on OPL 245, one of Nigeria's most lucrative offshore oil blocks, has been one of the country's longest-running and most scrutinised corruption cases. The block was controversially awarded to Malabu in the late 1990s and later became the subject of a $1.1 billion deal involving Shell, Eni and the Nigerian government, which anti-graft agencies and international investigators have long alleged involved bribery and the diversion of public funds. The EFCC has pursued multiple prosecutions linked to the deal, with Aliyu Abubakar and his AA Oil companies among several individuals and entities accused over the years of receiving or laundering proceeds traced to the transaction.
The discharge and acquittal by the Federal High Court in Abuja marks a significant setback for the EFCC in one of its highest-profile asset-recovery efforts, though it is unclear from the coverage whether the commission intends to appeal. All three reports agree on the central outcome — that Justice Inyang Ekwo cleared Abubakar, Malabu Oil and Gas, and related companies of the money laundering charges — with Leadership additionally noting that eight defendants in total were freed and that the charges spanned criminal misappropriation and forgery allegations. None of the reports detail the court's specific reasoning for the acquittal or the EFCC's next steps.