Fugitive Oil Tycoon Kola Aluko Admits Paying UK Rent For Alison-Madueke’s Mother
Adetokunbo Fakeye
Kola Aluko, a Nigerian oil magnate now wanted in the UK for money laundering, has admitted that he paid rent for a high-end apartment for the mother of a former minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
Mr. Aluko told the British Sunday Times newspaper that he was responsible for paying rent for Mrs. Beatrice Agama, the former minister’s mother.
He also said he ensured that food was brought to the minister’s mother at the St. John’s Wood property. Last month, a UK court approved the confiscation of funds belonging to Mrs. Agama.
The court also authorized the seizure of funds belonging to Melanie Spencer, the wife of a Ghanaian oil tycoon, Kevin Okyere, implicated in the money laundering investigation involving the former minister.
According to the report in The Sunday Times, “Aluko confirmed a probe over potential violations of the UK Proceeds of Crime Act and Bribery Act but professed his innocence.
He said: ‘I’m willing to co-operate with anybody. I have nothing to hide”.
The British newspaper also reported that, in early 2011, Mr. Aluko’s Atlantic Energy “signed a lucrative strategic alliance giving it rights to sell oil from four big blocks on behalf of Nigeria’s national oil company. Before the oil price crashed, Aluko said the commercial value of the contract was an estimated $7bn”.
The paper added: “Aluko admitted he paid the rent on a flat in St John’s Wood in London for Alison-Madueke’s mother, as well as bringing her ‘hams, sausages and orchids’.
He said these were simply gifts to a friend, given long after Atlantic had signed its deal.” Mr. Aluko’s Atlantic Energy company is at the center of a reported $6 billion heist from the Nigerian treasury.
Mr. Aluko’s statement to the UK newspaper is highly significant because it is the first public admission by the flamboyant and controversial oil tycoon of financial exchanges between him and Mrs. Alison-Madueke.
The former Petroleum Minister was arrested last month in London and later granted bail by the anti-corruption unit of the UK National Crime Agency. Mrs. Alison-Madueke had handpicked Mr. Aluko, who has Swiss citizenship, for lucrative, shady deals in the Nigerian oil sector.
Once the deal was inked, Mr. Aluko indulged a passion for glamorous women, including supermodel Naomi Campbell, swanky homes, expensive cars, a yacht and junkets in the world’s glitziest spots where he partied with Hollywood celebrities.
The UK government has officially filed a Mutual Legal Assistance request seeking to interrogate Mr. Aluko in Switzerland.
The Sunday Times reported that the request has now been sent to the Swiss Attorney General for implementation.
Another Nigerian involved in the multibillion scam, Jide Omokore, has reportedly offered to refund $500 million to the Nigerian government, but his offer has not been accepted by President Muhammadu Buhari, according to a source in the Nigerian Presidency.
“President Buhari wants him [Mr. Omokore] to increase the amount he is offering to refund to the country,” the source said.
According to the same source, Mr. Omokore was also insisting that he would refund part of his ill-acquired funds on certain conditions, including the government allowing his oil businesses to continue.
Kola Aluko, as published by wikipedia was born on 20th October 1969, in Lagos, Nigeria to Chief Akanni Aluko (Chairman Island Club and High Chief in Ilesha, Osun State, Nigeria) ageologist. Chief Akanni Aluko is the only child of Mrs Adedoja Aluko from Ogbomosho, Oyo State, Nigeria. Kola Aluko attended Igbogbi College in Lagos. Aluko says, he was “from an early age very ambitious and I always knew I wanted to work for myself”. “Highly competitive and keen on sports”, Aluko’s entrepreneurial mind set saw him work in different industries, from pharmaceuticals to cars, before settling for the oil industry twenty years ago.
He is a Nigerian energy business magnate with further interests in African infrastructure development and aviation.
Aluko is the Co-Chief Officer and an Executive Director of Atlantic Energy, an indigenous, private upstream oil and gas company, focused on independent exploration and production (‘E&P”) participation in Nigeria.
In partnership with the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) Atlantic Energy focuses mainly on Niger Delta assets, contracted and executed under Strategic Alliance Agreements (SAAs) with the NPDC.
Kola Aluko was ranked by Forbes Africa as one of the 40th Richest Africans, as well as included in the Top Ten list of Successful African Entrepreneurs to Follow onTwitter.
The New African Magazine (November 2013 issue) included Aluko in their 100 Most Influential Africans listing and issue.
Kola Aluko co-founded Besse Oil, a pioneering oil trading company in Nigeria in 1995. Besse Oil, one of the first to obtain a credit line with major international banks, traded crude oil and fuel oil, as well as being a major importer of gasoline.
Six years later, in 2001, Aluko founded Fossil Resources, an indigenous downstream oil and gas company, where he held the role of CEO.
In 2004, Kola Aluko formed Exoro Energy International, becomes CEO and moves into Exploration and Production. Exoro Energy partnered with a division ofWeatherford, to showcase its exploration and production technology.
In 2007, the division of Weatherford was bought out and merged with Exoro Energy to form an independent company, Seven Energy. Aluko was a Director of Seven Energy from 2007 until his departure in 2011.
Kola Aluko, together with a team of Nigerian and international E&P executives, co-founds Atlantic Energy in 2011, a private upstream oil and gas company, with an increased focus on under-developed producing fields in Nigeria.
In 2010, Aluko diversified into the aviation industry, becoming a member of the Vistajetadvisory board, assisting with the West-African expansion of the Swiss-based luxury aviation company.
