Sahara Energy Debunks Media Report Alleging Money Laundering against Director

Sahara Energy Debunks Media Report Alleging Money Laundering against Director

Sahara Energy Resource Limited (SERL) has debunked media report alleging that an executive director of SERL, Mr Tope Shonubi, has an amount of approximately $400million kept in trust for a former presidential aide.

A statement issued by the company said: “The attention of Sahara Energy Resource Limited (“SERL”) has been drawn to a false and misleading media report initially published by the online news portal, Pointblanknews.com, on July 15, 2020 under the headline: “How Late Abba Kyari Illegally Shared $200million From $1.099billion Oil Bloc Money To Sahara Energy”, which has also been re-hashed in other online media publications.”

It described the allegations in the report as “baseless, unfounded and a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.”

It categorically denied any illegal alliance with Mr. Mamman Daura or the Late Mr. Abba Kyari or indeed any other political appointees as alleged, adding “the above listed individuals do not have, have never had and have never been promised any inducements or interests whatsoever by or in SERL or any of its affiliates.”

It said the report made unfounded allegations and cited apparent falsehoods from unnamed sources in what could only be best described as a sponsored smear campaign.

The statement read: “The report cites several false statements including a statement to the effect that an executive director of SERL- Mr Tope Shonubi has an amount of approximately $400million kept in trust for late Kyari.

“The report also falsely reports a statement that ‘…in May 2016, officials of the EFCC raided the Lagos and Abuja offices of Sahara Energy carting away several computers and documentary evidence of the deals, according to Pointblanknews.com sources at the anti-graft agency…’

“It is on record that SERL, a Sahara Group company, is one of the foremost indigenous operators in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector with a sterling pedigree spanning over two decades with demonstrable and impeccable governance, integrity, service excellence and good corporate citizenship.

“It is important to note that this recent publication is not the first of its kind by way of smear campaigns against SERL by pointblanknews.com. SERL had in the past instituted legal action against pointblanknews.com and its owners and secured judgment against it for publishing false and defamatory information about the company. Please click here for more details.”

It urged members of the public to disregard the report in its entirety, adding, “We remain committed to the principles of good governance, best practice and service excellence that have successfully driven the Sahara Brand in the last two decades – across its locations in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.”

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