How former Edo Governor, Igbinedion, lost N3.3billion to Venezuelan conmen

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 lucky
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
The 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.
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.