P&ID $9.6 bn Debt: The Obasanjo, Military Connections

DANJUMA’S STAKES IN THE COMPANY REVEALED

As the federal government moves to explore means to escape payment of the controversial $9.6 bn P&1D judgment debt, feelers emerging from the company indicate that Nigeria may have fallen into a big scam orchestrated by owners of the Irish company.

Following the judgment delivered in August, the federal government has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to wade into the matter and prosecute all those involved in the contract.

Also P&ID has stated that it was prepared to execute the judgment by seizing Nigerian properties abroad.

From all indications, those that may eventually be picked up, according to sources privy to the details of the contract are ex-government officials including those currently in this administration.

Danjuma’s Link To Owner Of P&ID

Some prominent Nigerians that have now being linked to the firm include Lt General Theophilus Danjuma (rtd), who was Defense Minister under the regime of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and some top military brass in the Navy, Army and Air-force.

According to Bloomberg a foreign news agency, the ex-Defence chief was, from the start, part of the formation of P&ID.

Danjuma would later allegedly claim that the controversial gas deal, which has now left the nation with a huge liability, was originally his idea and that he was duped $40 million by the promoters of the firm.

How did it all start?

Sponsors Got Contracts From Obasanjo’s Govt

Between 2004 and 2005 an Irish businessman, Marsh Pearl was introduced to former President Obasanjo by some powerful presidency officials.

The two men hit it off almost immediately and everything changed for the businessman in Nigeria as he became a priority contractor for that government which awarded whopping and mouth-watering contracts, including multibillion defense contracts to his companies.

But most of the contracts awarded to him were never executed. It was later discovered that he’s a dupe who use fake companies to execute shady deals across the world ”and sometimes seek arranged damages,” a competent government source told the magazine.

By the time he was discovered, it was too late for the Obasanjo’s administration because he has already made friends with powerful men in government.

His closeness to Obasanjo has also blossomed so much so that some ‘ambitious administration officials” who wanted to prosecute him for corruption were forced to back off, the source said.

PDP, the party in power then was said to have benefited from the company so it was too difficult for the government to move against the owners, a party official told the magazine.

Multi-billion Naira Defense Contracts Awarded To Owners

For instance Pearl, a military source said “got a contract to fix 36 scorpion (military) tanks in Bauchi” which he never executed.

It was clear that the contractor had duped the Nigerian Army after collecting billions but he was never prosecuted. Rather “he was rewarded with many more contacts,” the source told the magazine.

But the table almost turned against him in 2006 as some officials in the government, including the military were already tired of his shenanigans.

How FG Allegedly Failed To Prosecute Sponsors

“In 2006, under Obasanjo, he and his son were charged for episionage,” but their real sin, the source said is “a large scale contract scam that involved military officers.”

“Some top brass in the military were so angry with the company and were poised to make sure that it was dealt with,” the magazine was told.

According to the source, Pearl would have gone down with the scam, save for Obasanjo that allegedly came to his rescue again.

“He denied the charges. The government intervened. You know what that means. He was left off and the case was dropped,” the source said.

That he escaped prosecution by the whiskers was not enough to deter him from committing more atrocities against the Nigerian government.

“In 2010, he entered the Airforce using another company known as Industrial Consultants. He brokered a deal for a British company to fix the ejector mechanisms of our jets. A few months later the air-force terminated the contract, the air-force broke off before it could be raped. But it was too late,” the source said.

The Firm Won $2.3million Against Nigerian Airforce

There was “arbitration” in Nigeria over the case. Pearl, the source stated “won 2.3 million dollars. The air-force refused to pay. But the British company in whose name the contact was written, who won the arbitration, was not even aware of the award.

“Mr Quin” as he was then known “had duplicated the company and used the Nigerian photocopy to run the arbitration deal,” the source said.

The biggest scam ever, is that the man called Mr Quin died in 2015, three years after his company, P&ID dragged the Nigerian government to a London court over a controversial gas contract.

It was learned that Pearl’s children and some of their backers have all the while been behind legal tussle in which a British court, finally found the federal government guilty of contract breach, last month and has now been fined huge damages.