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 luckyThe 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.
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
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.
88 comments:
Pervert!!! Ultimate fuckery!
lol...show us pix of their maybachs and bentley again na
pls linda
edo indigenes were robbed blind by this man and his family
rogues and thieves
Thief!!!!
NEMESIS INDEED!!!!!!!!!!
Lwkm 4 dis 1.......thief thief wetin thief thief......lols na God catch am
He who kills by the sword, shall die by the sword. Mr Lucky, you wil remain unlucky this time.
Mehn, money plenty for naija like die....
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***CURRENTLY IN JUPITER***
Hmmm..... Nemesis has definitely caught up with him.
CoolDiva speaks!
LINDA IKEJI,ike okwu adirom. Nne Kooni ma die Kooni man burry m joor
God please let dem also dupe GEJ n other corrupt leaders after their tym in office. Let the loss be so monumental that they ll av heart attack n drop dead on d spot! Bloody thieves
What can i say?
Karma's a bitch.
The only thing when vex me inside be say, no be we naija boys do lucky this kind strong thing. E pain me say the pay enta foreigners hand.
*sips brukutu
FoxZulu out.
If I ask u 4 just 5million naira now, u won't be generous enough to give, now u've lost a huge amount. Ok naa!
Am not surprise about this Man @ all. I can see 419 being write on his 4 Head vividly. May God forgive you o Mr shina Rambo 2. ⌣̊┈̥-̶̯͡»̶̥♡thanks ⌣̊┈̥-̶̯͡»̶̥
Whatever!
Whay you sow is what you'll reap!
That's just the beginning.
Next......
* My R1.50c comment *
Cunning man die, cunning man bury am. Like I stated earlier, karma is the best teacher for all criminals.
Story yi ti fe ma long,he case is like dat of the man who reaped double of wat he has sown*smh*
Him never Halla! It's called Karma...#Godwatchesfromadistance
Praiseeeeeeeeeeeeeeee the Lorrrrrrrd! I will personally organize a thanksgiving service for this.....who says God is slow? This call for a big celebration...( dancing and shaking my butt like beyonce......)
Wow! The Venezuelan conmen are super smart. A good way for Igbinedion to pay for his sins as governor
All na wash,they should tell all the fake stories to 5years old children
Am impressed!! Best news I've heard about our leaders/past leaders all year. :)
THE BIBLE SAYS..."a fool and his money are soon parted..." Serves him damn right, God is never mocked!!! Barawo Oshi*
Interesting... keep it coming Linda
Very good.
First to fucking commmmmmmmmeeeeeeennt
Classic! More badoo's to be dealt with..
So do u now want to be the first to stop It lol every big man na thief
Hmmmm dat was a reel 419. EFCC were re u? oya go nd arrest him nw becos if he think he can loot Edo state money nd go free is a lie big lie, he'll never go free family of thieves
puuuuulease me cant read this long "thiefry" epistle. what u sow, u shall surely reap. u stole from the state and now u have been stolen from, lobatan.
All these monies would have done so much in Edo State; he Collects, enters plea bargain with corrupt EFCC,and walks away with no consideration for generations of Nigerians unborn who will need these resources to survive. Shame on all of us for standing bye and letting this happen . For those of you who like to pray keep praying but heaven helps those who help themselves.
All these monies would have done so much in Edo State; he Collects, enters plea bargain with corrupt EFCC,and walks away with no consideration for generations of Nigerians unborn who will need these resources to survive. Shame on all of us for standing bye and letting this happen . For those of you who like to pray keep praying but heaven helps those who help themselves.
Old gist lol the man look wicked sha, but at the end of the day he can never be broke the theft me added wealtholoshi nan karma Don catch am
Hmmmm dat was a reel 419. EFCC were re u? oya go nd arrest him nw becos if he think he can loot Edo state money nd go free is a lie big lie, he'll never go free family of thieves
THIS IS BAADDDDDD SITTING!!!!!!! Venezuelan hustle, lol!!!!!!!!
See gobe! Another Abacha but very unlucky one!
Soo happy hes broke. At least he has taught oda corrupt politicians a lesson. . Naija politicians shaa. . Smhw for dem. Person go steal money to d extent dat evn his unseen generation cnt b poor
Wonders shall never end, reaping what you sow is becoming faster than ever, i heard Mr Lucky was also duped in SA. That is just the Genesis, God cannot lie. JEREMIAH 17:11
Matured fraud....he(Igbinedion) was a good client; and he really cooperated. let me check my yahoo mail; I will be back 'jari'.
What goes around...comes around.
Na God catch am....
Na God catch am....
Na God catch am....
you reap what you sow pure an d simple this is just the beginning of his woes
Karma is a female dog... You dig?
Nemesis is a bitch!
Yahoo boys fucked up big time...see deal
I see a lot of you have time on your hands to sit and falsify a story to gain views.
Don't be blind by accepting everything that is given to you. You cannot survive on lies. Be blessed.
Hmmmm, see fraud at its finest. Waiting to her the rest of the gist
dis is just the beginning o mr ex governor
Bitch lol
Shut up already. U think gej is a thief lyk ur father bitch. May it hapn to TA orji two tymz.
Choi! So Thief don thief from thief. Good one
Ehn...he has d moni na...datz y he waz dupd...shey na person wey no get moni fraudsters wan dupe ni.....richer dan him a million tyms
ITS KARMA BABY!........WHATSOEVER A MAN SOWETH, THE SAME SHALL HE REAP...SIMPLES!!...BRACE YOURSELF IGBINEDION, TIS JUST THE BEGINNING
He don DO you before?
Long story. Can't be bothered to read. But God catch am sha...
*** forst to comment ***
Thief versus thief
Lucky dis is just d beginning. Edo people still curse u every day. They will dupe u of all u have an u will die wretched! U will beg for food and eat from the gutters and finally die by fire! Idiot wicked bastard thief. It can never be well with u. This is just d beginning. God isn't done dealing with u yet. When he is, u will rue d day u were born. Bastard, ugly twat, imbecile.
everyday for the thief one day for the owner nah!!!
lol.
The Lumdy blog Review
Happy Scamming...who will be the next victim pls...
I agree with you.
Small time now,EFCC go dey pursue small boys when big tif like lucky dey waka in and out of aso villa.
That's a whole lot of money but It ain't nothing compared to what's stashed in his foreign bank accounts. I will tell my mummy for you!
I grit yhu bros..yhu dey d game
He has obviously fucked sarah.....with ur baloon head....lol olosho
Shit mhen dat money is change naw, compared to d money he stole...I heard his having a kidney disease..
@ replierng how my papa take enter this talk? I knw I shdn but fuck it am going to cme down to ur level.... it is ur mother and all the females in ur family that are bitches! I don't blame u... keep tinkn thru ur anus n spitn rubbish frm than dustbin u call a mouth
idiot you are not the first to fucking comment. Child.
Am waiting for his sentencing n return of looted funds. Not that rubbish 6 months n 750K stuff. Something like 40 yrs for starters.
I hope d gist is true! Then, it serves him right.
whoever is mentioning TA on this page is far from reality...God bless TA...
Governor t a orji should not be mention here because he has well in Abia and in all sectors of the state
Dis one na international sitting
LOBATAN!...d bushmeat has caught d hunter ds tym...hehe,its jus d beginning... (•_•)
Thief thief thief
Nemesis, upon all d R****ls
Sharrap there, replierng. GEJ is a first class thief! He is not better than Lucky. He just hasn't been caught red-handed....yet.
Law of Karma is indeed a very strong law
All LIES. If you are unaware, recent money laundering proceedings have been initiated against Lucky in Benin High Court. This scoundrel is the biggest bandit and scammer Edo State has ever known. My guess it that this report is simply propaganda designed to mislead the public, and indeed the courts, to believing that the proceeds of his public treasury looting is no longer available for repatriation and forfeiture. This blatant fraud will not work Mr Comic-Moustache.
If our justice system is reliable, you will be convicted, shamed and severely punished for your greedy and selfish lust for public finances. I can count on Oshiomole to ensure that this will be the outcome (albeit in furtherance of his own political interests).
Having gotten that off my chest, I would also like to highlight the fact that this so-called US law firm has breached US anti-money laundering laws (as they have on-boarded a well-known corrupt politically exposed person as their client, charge an obscene retainer fee paid for by laundered money. They should be heavily fined and even shutdown by the US authorities.
If its true - his sins have caught up with him
That's a Huge amount of Money o
what goes around comes around. unfortunately the money nobi ur sweat.
why air the scam...he stole much more.
Hahahahahah c his head
Lol do u guys understand your poor opinions don't mean shit/efcc can never arrest him because of he's family background if u like Blogger and complain all u want and lastly be will never beg for food or eat in different gutters because he is that rich and can buy all of u com mentors plus stupid Linda ikeji lol
Do not be deceived, he is working with the Venezuelans to prepare his bankruptcy arguement. They are keeping these monies for him pending whn he is free and off legal hoojs globally. Bankruptcy laws will then protect him for life, they can later guest him these monies back. This Bini man is smarter than you think.
Life is complete circle whatever crime you commit... You must come across it again
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