Paulinus Iheanacho Okoronkwo, a former employee of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC), is scheduled to be sentenced on 1 December in the United States for allegedly receiving a $2.1 million bribe from a Swiss company during his tenure at the corporation. Okoronkwo faces a maximum prison term of 25 years.
Okoronkwo was indicted in January 2024 by the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California on multiple charges, including three counts of engaging in monetary transactions involving property derived from unlawful activity, one count of tax evasion, and one count of obstruction of justice.
The charges relate to allegations that Okoronkwo failed to report the $2.1 million bribe payment on his 2015 federal income tax return.
Bashir Ahmad, former media aide to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, had revealed in 2024 that Okoronkwo was dismissed by the NNPC (now NNPCL) following his indictment. Prior to his dismissal, Okoronkwo served as a general manager in the upstream department.
On 25 May 2015, just days before the end of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Okoronkwo and other NNPC officials reportedly finalised an agreement with Addax Petroleum, a deal valued at $2.4 billion.
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According to a statement from the US Department of Justice (DoJ), the 58-year-old lawyer received $2,105,263 in October 2015 from a Swiss subsidiary of Sinopec, Addax Petroleum, deposited into his law firm’s account. The payment was purportedly for his role as a consultant who negotiated a settlement agreement concerning Addax’s drilling rights in Nigeria.
Investigations by the DoJ revealed that the engagement letter signed by Addax with Okoronkwo’s law office – which listed a fake address in Lagos – was a cover-up designed to conceal the payment as a bribe. Addax allegedly mischaracterised the payment as legal fees, misled auditors, and dismissed executives who questioned the legitimacy of the transaction.
To mask the bribe, Okoronkwo received the funds into his law firm’s IOLTA (Interest on Lawyers Trust Account), creating the false impression that the money was client funds. He is also accused of using $983,200 of the illicit funds to make a down payment on a house in Valencia, California, in 2017.
Okoronkwo further obstructed justice in June 2022 by lying to federal investigators, denying that he used any of the $2.1 million to purchase a property and maintaining that the funds were client monies rather than income.
Following a four-day trial, Okoronkwo was found guilty on all counts. His sentencing will be presided over by United States District Judge John F. Walter. The maximum statutory sentence includes up to 10 years in federal prison for each money laundering count, up to 10 years for obstruction of justice, and up to five years for tax evasion.
Currently, Okoronkwo remains free on a $50,000 bond but is in the custody of the FBI.
