A United States court has found Paulinus Okoronkwo, a Nigerian-American and former general manager of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), guilty of receiving a $2.1 million bribe from Addax Petroleum, a Swiss subsidiary of China’s state-owned Sinopec.
Okoronkwo, who once headed NNPC’s upstream division, was convicted on multiple counts including transactional money laundering, tax evasion, and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors told the court that in October 2015, Addax wired $2.1 million to Okoronkwo’s Los Angeles law firm under the guise of “consultancy fees.” In reality, the payment was a bribe to secure favourable drilling rights in Nigeria.
During the four-day trial, evidence showed that Addax executives falsified records, misled auditors, and dismissed internal staff who raised concerns about the payment. Prosecutors also presented documents revealing that the engagement letter signed with Okoronkwo’s law office carried a fake Lagos address designed to conceal the true nature of the deal.
Okoronkwo later used nearly $1 million of the illicit funds as a down payment on a home in Valencia, California, while deliberately omitting the income from his 2015 tax filings. In June 2022, he further obstructed justice by lying to federal investigators, insisting the funds were client monies and denying their use in purchasing property.
According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Addax feared losing billions of dollars in potential profits if its drilling rights were not secured, prompting the bribe.
US District Judge John Walter has scheduled sentencing for December 1. Okoronkwo faces a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison for each money laundering count, up to 10 years for obstruction of justice, and five years for tax evasion.
Erizia Rubyjeana
Follow us on: