A $500,000 transfer made to Jennifer Douglas, the former wife of ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, occurred months before Sunrise Power and Transmission Company was purportedly awarded a contract for the Mambilla hydropower project, according to findings from an international arbitration tribunal.
Leno Adesanya, the promoter of Sunrise Power, told a three-member International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) tribunal that the January 30, 2003 payment was part of a foreign-exchange transaction carried out for Atiku.
The money was transferred through China Castle Investments Limited, an offshore company controlled by Adesanya, to Douglas’s Citibank account in the United States.
At the time, Sunrise was involved in negotiations and preparations for the Mambilla project. The company had submitted its tender to a multi-agency technical committee about two weeks before the payment was made.
Nigeria had alleged during the arbitration that the payment was connected to the disputed award of the Mambilla contract. Sunrise and Adesanya denied the allegation, maintaining that the transaction was unrelated to the project. (Businessday NG)
Adesanya’s Explanation for the Payment
Adesanya said he operated a bureau de change business through Moneyline Ventures Limited and that the dollars transferred to Douglas represented foreign currency purchased for Atiku with naira.
“I confirm that I made a transfer of $500,000 to the Abubakars through my company China Castle Investments Ltd in early 2003,” Adesanya said in his fourth witness statement, according to the tribunal’s award.
However, the tribunal said Adesanya did not provide documents showing the underlying naira payment, the exchange rate used, instructions from Atiku or his aides, correspondence concerning the transaction or evidence establishing its commercial purpose.
Adesanya said the discussions surrounding the transaction were conducted orally and that he no longer had access to written communications that may have existed more than two decades ago.
Neither Atiku nor Douglas testified during the arbitration, and no witness statement or declaration from either was submitted to corroborate Adesanya’s explanation.
The tribunal also noted that Adesanya initially suggested Atiku had confirmed the foreign-exchange explanation through his lawyers. During cross-examination, however, he said the explanation had been relayed to him by “Dr Ndukwe”, whom he identified as Atiku’s medical doctor.
When asked whether the confirmation originated directly from Atiku, Adesanya described this as his “logical assumption.”
The tribunal said no correspondence, telephone records or other evidence was produced to establish communications with Atiku’s lawyers, Ndukwe or the former vice-president’s aides. (Businessday NG)
Payment Came During Mambilla Negotiations
The payment took place while discussions over the Mambilla project were already underway.
Sunrise and North China Power Engineering Company had expressed interest in developing the project in September 2001. Sunrise was incorporated the following month, and its representatives subsequently met Atiku and other government officials.
Atiku later led a Federal Government delegation to China in July 2002, with Adesanya among those on the delegation. Nigerian officials and Chinese companies subsequently signed a memorandum of understanding covering several power projects, including the first phase of Mambilla.
The project was then estimated at $4.5 billion with a planned capacity of 2,600 megawatts.
Sunrise presented its tender to a multi-agency technical committee on January 15 or 16, 2003. On January 30, China Castle transferred the $500,000 to Douglas’s account.
On March 12, the technical committee recommended Sunrise for the 3,960MW project after evaluating four detailed proposals. (Businessday NG)
Tribunal Questions Foreign-Exchange Claim
The tribunal also questioned whether the transaction could properly be described as a foreign-exchange deal.
It found that Adesanya had not established that Moneyline Ventures held a bureau de change licence at the time. More importantly, the $500,000 was transferred by China Castle rather than Moneyline.
Adesanya acknowledged during cross-examination that China Castle was not licensed to conduct foreign-exchange transactions and that such transactions were outside the company’s stated corporate purposes.
The tribunal concluded that the lack of supporting evidence and inconsistencies in Adesanya’s testimony meant it could not accept his explanation that the payment represented a foreign-exchange transaction conducted for Atiku. (Businessday NG)
Tribunal Examines Atiku’s Role
Sunrise and Adesanya had argued that Atiku did not have sufficient political influence to affect the purported Mambilla award.
The tribunal disagreed, pointing to Atiku’s involvement in discussions surrounding the project from at least 2001, including meetings with Sunrise and its Chinese partner and his leadership of the 2002 delegation to China.
It also considered a February 2003 US diplomatic cable that described Adesanya as an “Atiku insider” and associate of the then vice-president.
The tribunal concluded that Atiku had a considerable degree of power and influence within the Federal Government during the first half of 2003.
However, the tribunal did not establish that Atiku personally directed the $500,000 transfer. Atiku was not a party to the arbitration and did not testify. The findings concerning the payment focused on the credibility of Adesanya’s explanation in the context of Sunrise’s contractual claims and Nigeria’s allegations. (Businessday NG)
Sunrise’s $2.35bn Claim Rejected
Sunrise began arbitration proceedings against Nigeria in 2017, seeking about $2.35 billion over an alleged breach of the 2003 agreement.
The parties later negotiated a settlement under which Nigeria was expected to pay Sunrise $200 million. A subsequent dispute led the company to seek another $200 million as a default payment, bringing its principal claim in the second arbitration to $400 million before interest.
The ICC tribunal ultimately dismissed Sunrise’s claims and rejected its request to compel Nigeria to pay both the $200 million settlement and the additional $200 million default amount.
The tribunal also ordered Sunrise and Adesanya to reimburse Nigeria for 75 percent of its legal fees and expenses. Nigeria’s recoverable costs were assessed at $11.82 million, with $2.5 million to come from funds held in ICC escrow and about $9.32 million payable by Sunrise and Adesanya, plus interest. (Businessday NG)
