A former senior employee of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Paulinus Iheanacho Okoronkwo, is facing the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence in the United States after being convicted in connection with a $2.1 million bribery scheme tied to a Swiss oil company.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced that Okoronkwo, 58, was found guilty on multiple counts, including three charges of transactional money laundering, one count of tax evasion, and one count of obstruction of justice. His sentencing is scheduled for December 1, and he could face up to 25 years behind bars.
Court filings revealed that in October 2015, a Switzerland-based subsidiary of Sinopec, Addax Petroleum, transferred $2,105,263 into an account operated by Okoronkwo’s law firm. The transaction was presented as payment for consultancy services linked to the negotiation of a settlement agreement with the NNPC over Addax’s drilling rights in Nigeria.
However, U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) investigators determined that the engagement letter used to justify the payment was falsified. The document, which bore a fabricated Lagos address, was allegedly created to disguise the payment as legal fees while concealing its true purpose — a bribe to secure more favorable financial terms for Addax’s crude oil operations in Nigeria.
Prosecutors further alleged that Okoronkwo failed to declare the $2.1 million payment on his 2015 federal income tax return, which formed the basis of the tax evasion charge.
Okoronkwo was first indicted in January 2024 on charges of money laundering, tax evasion, and obstruction of justice. Since then, the case has drawn significant attention due to its connection to Nigeria’s oil sector and the involvement of a former top official of the national oil company.
Commenting on the matter last year, Bashir Ahmad, a former media aide to late President Muhammadu Buhari, disclosed that Okoronkwo was dismissed by NNPC after his indictment. According to Ahmad, the former official, who served as a general manager in the upstream department, played a role in finalizing an agreement with Addax Petroleum on May 25, 2015 — just days before former President Goodluck Jonathan left office. The deal, Ahmad claimed, cost Nigeria an estimated $2.4 billion.
If the December sentencing confirms the full weight of the convictions, Okoronkwo could face decades in prison, making the case one of the most prominent bribery prosecutions involving a former NNPC official in the United States.
