Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Over 100,000,000 million shares in 2.1 months.
That's a lot of shares.
Where is the money going to come from for any CASH CALLS ?
All the 'working capital' is being quickly eaten by G&A expenses - over $3.0 mil per year G&A with only a $2.5 mil line of credit ... oops, change that to $2.5 mil cash at a 68% discount to market.
That's a hell of a discount people.
ATT BASHER ACCUSER
IE...Company Must Pay Attorney Fees In Chat Room Speech Case - Global Telemedia International - Company Business and Marketing
A U.S. District Court Thursday ordered Global Telemedia International [OTCBB:GLTIE.OB] to pay more than $55,000 in attorney's fees to two defendants. The company had sued several anonymous individuals for posting comments critical of GTMI in an Internet chat room.
According to court papers, Barry King and Ron Reader posted numerous messages on the Raging Bull message boards from March to October 2000. The defendants posted anonymously by adopting pseudonyms - King used the handle "BDAMAN609" and Reader was known on the boards as "electrick_man."
Raging Bull is described by the court as a financial Web site that organizes individual bulletin boards or chat rooms, each one dedicated to a single, publicly traded company. The judge noted that the majority of posters appear to be investors or prospective investors in a given company, but stock ownership is not required to post.
GTMI last fall filed a lawsuit against King, Reader and other defendants. The company alleged that negative comments by several posters about GTMI and its management constituted trade libel and interfered with contractual relations.
On Feb. 23, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter granted a motion to dismiss the case by defendants. In his decision, the judge noted that unlike many traditional media, there are no controls on the postings in chat rooms. As a result, such writings are almost always opinions, and therefore are protected under the First Amendment.
"In sum, neither Reader's nor King's postings are statements of fact," the court wrote. "Given the general context of the postings, the colorful and figurative language of the individual postings, the inability to prove the statements true or false, and in one case, the posting of documents to support the poster's statements, the postings are opinions."
Because defendants King and Reader were speaking as investors, not as competitors of GTMI, the court found they were protected by a California law written to protect individuals from retaliatory lawsuits from corporations that feel they have been disparaged. These are referred to as "Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation," or SLAPP lawsuits.
The court ruled the anti-SLAPP provisions are applicable to GTMI's lawsuit against King and Reader. The judge Thursday ordered the company to pay the two defendants' attorneys fees.
Megan E. Gray, who defended Reader, today told Newsbytes, "it is nice to get an award like this."
According to Gray, this is the first time a court has applied the mandatory attorney fee provision in the anti-SLAPP statute to a defamation lawsuit involving anonymous Internet message board posters.
"This is especially important, because there are hundreds of these frivolous lawsuits filed across the nation in an attempt to silence people from posting critical opinions on Internet message boards," said Gray.
About 15 states have similar anti-SLAPP laws, according to Gray.
Bruce Braun, an attorney who specializes in Internet legislation and free speech on the Internet said the court's ruling is potentially significant.
"It is likely that this decision will be used as a guidepost in similar cases," he said. "It is a very important decision."
Braun said he had never heard of another case where attorney's fees were awarded to message board posters, but added that there might be an unpublished decision.
Braun, who was not involved in the GTMI lawsuit, praised California's anti-SLAPP statute. He said defendants can force a corporation to show they have a "probability of success" on its claims of defamation.
"This is an unusual provision. It offers defendants extra protection," he said. "It is a defense of free speech. It lets a defendant tee the issue up at the outset of litigation before the attorneys' fees get too high. The plaintiff must come forward with facts that show a probability of success on merits. The plaintiff must have its ducks in a row."
In the GTMI case, the court found that, even if the postings King and Reader made were statements of fact, the company would have to show damages as a result of the allegations the defendants made online.
Because the company's stock price fell significantly before either defendant made a negative post, the judge found no support of GTMI's claim of trade libel or defamation.
"This case might start a trend," said Braun. "The attorney's fee provision is critical. It is a necessary deterrent to stopping corporations from overreaching."
According to Braun, a company can attempt to silence criticism at a minimal cost to itself, while a defendant would have to hire an attorney.
"This ruling sends a shot across the bow of many corporations. Not only do they generate bad publicity if a lawsuit is found to be frivolous, they have to pay attorney's fees as well," he said. "This brings us closer to the English system, where the winning party's attorney's fees are paid. That results in less litigation."
"With this ruling, companies will be forced to do due diligence before trying to silence people by suing them," Braun added.
Attorneys for GTMI did not return phone calls for this story.
Baker & Hostetler is at http://www.bakerlaw.com .
The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California is at http://www.cacd.uscourts.gov .
Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com .
17:24 CST
No awards - Another forte naucht completed.
It is now mid-February.
Name Changes and Cusip ID changes are a familiar tactic for attempting to distance one from past history - in this case,
very current history.
Mongo - excellent catch. Good research, real DD.
Thanks
Monkey
chcr - Please remove my posts that refer to the $204,000 per month charge. That is an incorrect assertion.
Please remove this post, and also these posts, #754,#756, #744 . The wording of the 10Q was improper - and leads to the wrong conclusion posted in this post. 68*3 = 204 - that is where the '204' comes from, not from a 'monthly charge'
"During each of the three months" causes the problem. Proper wording should have been "For the the three month periods ending ..."
My apologies for reading the filing directly, rather than making allowances for 'english problems'.
I do assert that even $68,000 per month for 'management services' is excessive.
My other posts stand.
Thank-you,
MonkeyTrots
Correction: $208,000 should be $204,000,
but the $408,000 per quarter for 'primarily general office supplies stands.
And - Let's not overlook the BIGGEST WARNING STATEMENT of all that is spelled out in black and white in the Company's own filing:
Should the Company perfect its interests in the 2001 Agreement and the 2003 Option Agreement, there is no certainty that the Company will be able to obtain sufficient financial and other resources to develop its interests.
That is a VERY STRONG WARNING - put out by the company.
BE AWARE OF THAT WARNING - AND DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MINIMIZE IT.
The company can not legally minimize that warning, nor can brokers, nor can investment advisors. So, sure as shootin, don't let some idiot 'penny stock investor' chat board poster try to con you that this stock does not have EXTREME RISK.
Not my words, folks. Those are straight from the company's own filing.
Read those words and heed.
That is a heck of a charge for 'primarily general office supplies'.
$208,000 per month - $68,000 per month = $136,000 PER MONTH for "primarily general office supplies"
That is $408,000.00 *U.S. DOLLARS* for ONE QUARTER'S worth of "primarily general office supplies."
What are they using - gold filigree copy paper ?
Straight from the 10-Q:
1.) COS provides these services to the Company for a management fee of $68,000 per month.
2.) The Chief Financial Officer and Secretary are employees of COS that provided services to the Company and these persons receive salaries and overhead expense reimbursement from COS, not from the Company.
3.) Expenses not covered under the management services agreement are paid by the Company which includes primarily general office supplies.
4.) During each of the three months ended December 31, 2004 and 2003, total expenses incurred under this management services agreement were $204,000.
There was NO extinguishment of debt. READ THE DEBT INSTRUMENT - NONE OF THE DEBT WAS RETIRED during the refinancing.
This is a fraudulent or HUGELY MISTAKEN statement.
A significant portion of the increase in net loss for the three months ended December 31, 2004 was attributable to a $5,749,575 non-cash loss on extinguishment of debt during the three months ended December 31, 2004 as the result of the issuance of shares in conjunction with the Chrome debt restructuring.
The Chief Financial Officer and Secretary are employees of COS that provided services to the Company and these persons receive salaries and overhead expense reimbursement from COS, not from the Company.
COS = Chrome Oil Services - 100% owned and operated by emeka offor.
No Corporate Governance. The officers and board of directors are subject to NO EFFECTIVE SHAREHOLDER CONTROL, and certainly are not subject to election/removal by other shareholders.
This is NOT 'Effective design & operation' of the company's 'controls & procedures' - nor is it an effective review.
Item 4. Controls and Procedures
An evaluation was performed under the supervision and the participation of the Company’s management including the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), of the effectiveness of the design and operation of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures within 90 days of the filing date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Based on that evaluation, the Company’s management, including the Chairman, CEO and CFO concluded that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective. There have been no significant changes in the Company’s internal controls or in other factors that could significantly affect these internal controls subsequent to the date of their evaluation.
The auditor improperly dropped the 'going concern qualification' from the 10K report.
That IS AN SEC VIOLATION. And yes, I have reported it. I would recommend that others do likewise.
From the 10Q:
Historically, the Company has financed its operations from the sale of debt and equity securities (including the issuance of its securities in exchange for goods and services) and from advances from bank and other debt agreements. There have been no cash flows generated from operations in the past two years. In the three months ending December 31, 2004, the Company drew $1,000,000 from the Chrome line of credit.
Should it be required, management will raise additional capital through the sale of common stock and from various debt financing arrangements, and will attempt to continue raising capital resources until such time as the Company generates revenues sufficient from operations. However, there is no assurance that such financing will be obtained.
The Company presently intends to utilize any available sources of funds to provide for general corporate overhead and to continue to pursue its interests in Sao Tome and the JDZ/EEZ.
ERHC -
Last Quarter Expenses: $7.xxx Million U.S. Dollars
10Q filed 2-10-2005 for quarter ended 12-31-2004.
And for those of you that LOVE to DD on everybody ...
Check out the 'General Office Expenses' paid ON TOP of the $68K per month in 'services' charges.
I would call all of those numbers outrageous.
And an OT to you chcr - thank-you for the cleanup work.
Amazing - I was talking about ERHC in all my posts.
And will continue to do so.
The World Bank and IMF aren't upset over 'nothing.'
No, balance - a DJ reporter was NOT at the annual meeting.
Don't even try lying about that through innuendo.
The COMPANY is required to maintain minutes, balance.
So the answer to my question on whether they followed the legal requirements for recording the meeting, would not be satisfied by ANY reporter being present.
10210 - Interesting. Calling all the other posters liars ?
You fellow brethren, the RB crew that attended the shareholders meeting - are lying about what the company said ?
Seems to me that you would be the one with the problem, 10 - not I.
Guess we can just ask ERHC for the minutes of the shareholders meeting, can't we ?
There WAS somebody taking minutes of the meeting, as required by Law, wasn't there ?
Balance - filings from an offshore Nigerian penny stock ?
Unverifiable, and unverified by any of the other reputable companies.
As an investor, it would be silly of me to EVER take the filings of ANY penny stock at face value - much less one such as this.
balance - according to the people that attended the shm - that is just flat not correct.
The participation agreements ARE STILL not in place.
That came out loud and clear from those that attended.
You heard what you wanted to hear out of those reports.
First week of February is now over - and still no awards.
Does this REALLY surprise anybody ?
Waiting to here all the excuses.
LOL - Hyup. Everyone's got one.
OT: Mx - maybe because it is obvious that stoneranger and I have studied/perused the SEC filings already of the companies we discuss.
It is also obvious, from just casual perusal, that Eagle also is big on studying SEC filings - although he is a trader rather than an investor.
Ranger's board is a board for long term investors of real oil & gas companies - ie. no pinks or otcees - but not of any particular company - so a link would be a bit tautological.
Ranger is a fundamentalist on investments - which always means that SEC filings come first. Implicit, Explicit, Goes without saying on a board such as that. The companies discussed have proven histories of actual incomes, real wells producing real oil and real gas. The bona-fides of those companies don't need substantiation - the SEC filings are useful there for determining real value, and future values from real, measurable data and robust operating histories.
But perhaps the introductory page to that board had precisely that caveat ? Do you have a copy of the 'board' set-up page handy ?
Unlike IHub - which has the excellent practice of retaining and archiving posts (even of defunct companies), RB no longer apppears to be able to hold posts long term.
As a very recent 'guest' to that board - perhaps you mistake my respect for the intelligence level on that board to be 'brown nosing' and a 'double standard'.
So be it.
You're entitled to your opinion -
as I am to mine.
sllabxam - it was also surprising that a board supposedly dedicated to 'DD' on a stock for 'longs(only)', does not list as the number one source for the company a link to the SEC filings.
At least one verifiable source for their board information 'directory' would have been in order.
Offor: More Background for those that really care to have even an inkling of the political situation.
http://www.thisdayonline.com/archive/2001/09/07/20010907ext01.html
Dateline: undefined/Tue, 16 Nov 2004 07:37:57 GMT/undefined
East: Between the Falcon and the Falconer
The Bottomline By Louis Odion
Not before Mary W. Shelley's novel, Fran-kestein, was man's imagination drawn forcibly to the possibility of an inventor creating something that sets out primarily to consume its own creator. Through the alchemy of talent and imagination, we are told, a physiologist had caused the birth of a creature which later turned a monster that eventually consumed him. Surely, in the still restricted world of genetic engineering, the possibilities of the human ingenuity is boundless. But as Shelley cautions, what remains a challenge is how the creator will manage his own creature afterwards.
There is a bizarre aspect of recent happenings in the South-East that is increasingly reminding this writer of Shelley's Frankestein. Part of the revelation of two years of Obasanjo is the rise of new political godfathers and chief among them is the youthful money-bag, Chief Emeka Offor. Indeed, political warlords always rise and fall in the eastern flank of the River Niger with every passing season. Before now, the cynosure of eyes was Chief Arthur Eze (a.k.a Arthur One-Thousand). In his own eccentric days, thunder usually heralded his arrival at any social gathering and gun-salute would greet his exit. But his own political star fell with the demise of Sani Abacha in 1998.
The empowerment of these new Turks today is no coincidence. It does appear that, in an attempt to consolidate power, the Obasanjo people have resolved to retrench the entire old guard of Igbo politics and birth a new generation that can deliver on the election day. And through official patronage, the hitherto unknown owner of the Chrome Group has somehow transmuted into something close to a myth now, assuming a spirit of its own. So much that he once claimed that he was offered the chairmanship of the board of NITEL by the president but that he refused. Distinguished by a thick frame, fancy Mao suit and austere beard, this money-bag would be seen in the company of the Vice President every now and then. And wherever the Oraifite-born billionaire goes nowadays, they say, there is always a battalion of no fewer than 50 regular members of Nigeria Police throwing security cordon around him. A report the police authorities are yet to debunk. Perhaps, as a new warlord in Anambra state, Offor needs all the protection.
To be fair, the Obasanjo people are entitled to the bargain they strike with local political warlords and mercenaries with a view to annexing territories in the elections ahead. But, judging by a chain of events in recent times involving the Chrome boss, something tells me the government is already on the road to being confronted by its own Frankesteinian monster in the East. It does appear that the falcon can no longer hear the falconer.
Apparently reacting to popular demand, President Olusegun Obasanjo three weeks ago did what he is not known to have publicly done since he assumed office over two years ago. Before reporters inside Aso Rock that day, the president excoriated both Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju and Chief Offor who have engaged each other in a war of attrition in Anambra state. In the search for enduring peace and tranquility in Anambra in the last eighteen months, some have tended to harbour the thinking that it is Abuja that is actually fighting a dirty proxy war through Offor against the governor in Awka. So, the belief of such people is that only the commander-in-chief could really call the Anambra warlord to order. In an apparent reaction to such thinking, Obasanjo on that occasion distanced himself from the feud. And typical of a true African elder in such circumstance, the president thereafter tongue-lashed Mbadinuju who he urged to desist from "commercialising" his appointments. By that, the president was obviously referring to widespread speculations that public appointments were being auctioned in Awka. Turning to Offor later, the president spurn the parable of the "Rich man, Elephant and Cricket." As he put it, it is foolish "for a man to carry elephant on his head and use his leg to search for cricket". Power and money, according to the president, are two variables mortals are not often blessed to own together at a time. So, he urged the young man to be contented with the riches God Has Blessed him with and leave the arena of politics for those elected to do so.
But Offor was on the offensive publicly again last weekend. He was quoted as saying that there can be no peace in Anambra until Mbadinuju accounted for Anambra's money. Sure, Mbadinuju owes the people a duty to explain why a borehole project should be quoted as costing several millions of naira. But I feel the way and manner Offor has chosen to renew his battle suggest bad faith. It suggests contempt for the office of the president which has already empowered a committee of eminent personalities from Anambra to work out peace. To start with, that he and Mbadinuju could be entertained as "equals" inside Aso Rock was enough indulgence for Offor already. For, regardless of his billions, the fact remains that Mbadinuju is an elected governor and is, therefore, supposed to be a personification of the "constituted authority" in Anambra. And, so, he should still be treated with some respect.
There are a few more episodes that I think are gradually marking Offor as a force that is no longer controllable. One of these is the circumstance that surrounds the reported crash involving Chrome aircraft few weeks ago. The aircraft which was said to be carrying two expatriate personnel from Yola reportedly ran out of fuel mid air resulting in a shut down of its engines. The crew were said to have succeeded in manoeuvring the aircraft into the vicinity of Murtala Mohammed International Airport, crash-landing almost one kilometer to the run-way and destroying three approach lights. But, without notifying the Control Towers and officials of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Chrome Air personnel were said to have towed the ill-fated aircraft out of the accident scene. And that was the end of the story.
Another is the case of reported transfer of $186 million to an offshore account linked to Chrome in 1999. The receiving bank is said to be based in the United States and the way and manner the transfer was done clearly run contrary to the spirit of transparency as espoused by the Obasanjo regime. The lid on the deal was actually blown open few weeks ago by a body that calls itself "Transparency Watch Nigeria". In its statement which was reported in the media, the body had gone ahead to allege that the deal could not have been perfected without the connivance of some public officials. But, as usual, no heaven has fallen since then. What could be termed the only official reaction was a statement by the CBN that its governor, Dr. Joseph Sanusi, had ordered an investigation of the matter. But thereafter, nobody has bothered to tell us anything with regards to the outcome of the probe, suggesting that "case don close" as the saying goes. But the people deserve to know. This is a clear test for the transparency campaign of the Obasanjo regime.
Obviously, the falcon can no longer hear the falconer.
prophetti - rather than congratulating BB on 'nice DD' - hadn't you better be asking him about his rather curious statement.
'I have been notified ...'
That should have raised your eyebrows at least a tad.
Historical Background you won't see from other posters ...
This is a politically unstable part of the world. Keep that in mind, and at least be aware of some of the undercurrents and rip tides.
Is it really any wonder that the 'awards' are delayed ?
Not if you understand the tug-of-war that is ongoing, and whom are involved.
LAST AAA FLASH
Publicacion Date: 2/26/2002
Issue: 431
Last Issue Previous Issues
NIGERIA: Dirty deals
Despite petitions alleging illegal transfer of $186 million out and back into Nigeria , federal authorities are yet to investigate. Is this another mortal blow to President Obasanjo´s transparency and accountability campaign? President Olusegun Obasanjo, Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and some PDP party stalwarts may be facing a crisis of confidence because of alleged attempts to cover up the investigation into the $186 million transfer scam. Emeka Offor, a businessman and PDP financier allegedly transferred the money from Nigeria through the New York branch of the United Bank for Africa plc., UBA. In the last six months, Obasanjo, the chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission; the National Assembly and the PDP have been inundated with petitions on the illegal money transfer in 1999. O.C. Udegbunam, assistant secretary, PDP, Wuse ward, Abuja , wrote Obasanjo on November 26, 2001 on the issue. He said Nigerians and the international community were worried by the official silence over so serious a matter and would like to know why nothing has been done on the transfer. "Would this scandal be swept under the carpet? Posterity will not forgive us if this matter is killed by the powers-that-be, either by acts of omission or commission," Udegbunam said, urging the president to probe the transfer. "Our own investigations point to Sir Emeka Offor and his Chrome Consortium. Why are we turning a blind eye to these weighty issues? Or do we still have ´sacred cows´?" The PDP assistant secretary urged Obasanjo to set up an administrative inquiry into the fraudulent transfer. "Our patience is running out and if we don´t hear from you soon we may resort to other lawful means of compelling a response," the ward party assistant secretary warned. He added that he presented the petition as a concerned Nigerian citizen with a stake in the economic well-being of Nigeria and because the money was enough to feed and house millions of Nigerians. "It is your duty to protect public interest," he advised the president. Ever since Udegbunam sent his petition, he has been under a lot of pressure from some PDP party stalwarts, including officials from the office of the vice-president, who wanted him to withdraw his petition. In November, Newswatch learnt officials from the vice-president´s office made representation to the petitioner, seeking to reconcile him with Offor even though aides to the vice-president denied it. Offor on December 7, sent his own emissaries to Udegbunam asking him to back down but the petitioner refused. His aides denied this, saying they were not aware of such a move and that the petition was written by an imaginary person. Nigerians and several newspapers, The Punch, Champion, and Thisday urged the government to probe the illegal money transfer. Louis Odion in Thisday, Friday, September 7, pointed out that " the way and manner the transfer was done clearly run contrary to the spirit of transparency as espoused by the Obasanjo regime." Ibe Njoku, in his column titled "Transparency On Trial," questioned the circumstances of the alleged $186 million transfer and worried that there should not be selective application in the anti-corruption drive. Patrick Umar, a doctor, is piqued that government is turning a blind eye to this scandal at a time members of the Sani Abacha family are being prosecuted for sundry financial crimes. "Isn´t $186 million a colossal amount everywhere in the world? In naira terms, $186 m amounts to N20.832 billion," Umar queried in his commentary published in Thisday, October 12, 2001 . Newswatch learnt that the money in question was allegedly used to buy and recapitalise distressed Orient Bank, now African Express Bank, Afex in 1999. Offor owns the bank. Gidado Idris, secretary to the federal government in the Abacha regime is the chairman. Samuel Shei, personal assistant to Basil Onugu, managing director of Afex Bank, told Newswatch that neither the chairman nor the managing director was in to speak to Newswatch on the issue January 7. But Onugu personally called Newswatch reporter on the morning of January 8, saying that the recapitalisation of the bank was concluded before he was employed and that he could not say much on that. He also said that no other management staff was competent to speak on the matter. When Newswatch pressed further Onugu became angry. "I have told you I cannot help you. If you insist on publishing anything, you better be sure of your facts or you will get yourself into trouble," he said. Asked if his statement was a threat, Onugu replied: "I am only telling you to be careful with what you publish, if not you will face undesirable consequences, that is . Have a blessed day," Onugu said and hung up the phone. Offor, also owner of Chrome Consortium, declined to speak with Newswatch and delegated his associate and cousin, retired Group Captain Nnamdi Nnoruka, to speak on his behalf. Nnoruka said January 17, in Lagos , that the allegation was a poor attempt by Offor´s enemies to malign him and that the petition was as a result of a petition he wrote against Clement Mbadinuju. But he said Offor was a businessman of international repute. "Everybody knows. He is a straightforward businessman and his deals are above board. We don´t know anything about it. He doesn´t know anything about it. All we are saying, why don´t the authorities investigate it? $186 million is a lot of money. Not the kind of money that this country can afford to lose through the activities of some criminal-minded business executive," he said. Nnoruka admitted that Idris is the chairman of Afex as a result of long standing relationship. "And the reputation of the man, Gidado Idris, you know that when you have such an institution like a bank, sometimes you require people of substance you now invite to come and be chairmen. They will help you in certain aspects for certain contacts and so on. But Gidado Idris is not even a substantial shareholder in Afex Bank," the group captain said. He said he was not duty bound to say where the money for the purchase of Afex came from and that no ill-gotten money was used. Nnoruka said he read in the papers that the senate was already investigating that allegation and that we should wait for the outcome of the investigation. As at August, Tony Ede, deputy director, corporate affairs, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, could not confirm or deny outright whether the bank was probing the alleged illegal money transfer despite newspaper reports that it was doing so. Ede first told Newswatch on telephone that the official in charge of international operations who would comment on the case travelled and was not available to provide information. He advised Newswatch to call back when the man returned. When Newswatch subsequently called back Ede changed gear, telling the reporter to go to UBA to do the investigation since the bank was the one mentioned in the case. Newswatch went to UBA on August 23, 2001 , and met a very hostile Buki Akinkugbe, the public relations manager of UBA. Akinkugbe said the bank had "no comment" on the issue. She said that she was not aware of CBN´s investigation. She pointed out that the petition was sent to the presidency and published in The Punch. She told Newswatch to direct its questions to the presidency and to meet Ede of CBN for more information. Despite official reluctance to comment on the issue, more petitions continue to flood Aso Rock on other alleged economic sabotage being perpetrated by Offor. One of such petitions dated July 2, 2001, and addressed to Obasanjo was written by Transparency Watch, Nigeria , and circulated to Transparency International and all security agencies. Signed by one Peter Davies, the letter stated that it was because of Obasanjo´s unprecedented fight against corruption and crusade for transparency and accountability that it was drawing his attention to grievous cases of economic sabotage against the nation. "We bring you, sir, evidence of participation in the looting of Nigeria ´s treasury. We submit to you gripping and compelling evidence of influence peddling, corruption and corrupt practices, use of undue influence to corner very juicy and inflated contracts right under the very nose of your Excellency," Davies said. Transparency Watch alleged that Offor claimed in his interview with The News magazine that he was worth $3 billion. "Informed sources say he is in fact, worth $6 billion. May we ask, Mr. President where Sir Emeka Offor, a mere driver a few years ago got this mind-boggling wealth from?" Transparency Watch argues that since Offor does business mostly with Nigerian government, his wealth could be estimated. "What comes out of this is that this wealth could be as a result of inflated contracts. Is he a major conduit for siphoning Nigerian funds abroad? Is he a money launderer?" It asked. Transparency Watch also alleged that Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe recently signed an agreement to jointly explore the resources in their common continental shelf and exclusive economic zone for the economic benefit of the two countries. Oil deposits abound in this zone. "In a reckless display of undue influence, lack of transparency and even corrupt practice, Offor´s company was presented by the Nigerian government as the sole private sector participant on behalf of Nigeria in the exploration of the oil deposits of this zone," Transparency Watch charged. It said this very juicy oil deal was not made open to any other competitor. It was just simply awarded to Chrome Consortium because of Offor´s access to the powers-that-be. It asked the president to await further developments in this matter, which it said, was simply mind-boggling. Transparency Watch alleged that Chrome Consortium was paid millions of dollars for the repairs of the old and new Port-Harcourt refineries. According to it, experts in the industry estimated the nation was ripped off to the tune of about $100 million as inflated payments in this contract alone. Transparency Watch said it documented about 20 other serious cases of corruption, influence peddling, abuse of office, involvement in illegal acts and cover-ups, harassment and intimidation of political and business opponents, procuring law enforcement agents to act unlawfully, infringement of transparency rules and regulations of government associated with Offor. It called on the president to direct the inspector-general of police, the director-general, SSS, the National Security Adviser, the director-general, National Intelligence Agency, the International Police, INTERPOL, the CIA, M16 and other international agencies to investigate these serious issues with a view to commencing prosecution. "If the president fails to do this, we shall have no option but to do what we consider in the best interest of the long suffering people of this country," warned Transparency Watch. A security document coded "Oracle" alleged that Offor and Idris contributed to the ill-fate that befell defunct Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission, OMPADEC; National Fertiliser Company of Nigeria, NAFCON, and The Eleme Refinery through inflated contracts. "Most of the contracts in NAFCON and these other institutions were hijacked and the contract sums manipulated and criminally inflated including the contracts for the turn-around maintenance of the refineries," it said, describing Offor "as the alter ego of Alhaji Gidado Idris." Nnoruka said Offor did not have any business relationship with either OMPADEC or NAFCON. "Eleme Petrochemicals, I think we have had some NNPC contracts there," he said. He described the allegation as "complete rubbish." Allegations that Offor has business relations with Atiku were dismissed by Chris Mamah, special adviser to the vice-president on media. "Offor has no business relationship with the vice-president. It is all a smear campaign. I know he has no business relationship," Mamah told Newswatch December 28. Nnoruka also said Offor had no business relationship with Atiku even though they were friends. Newswatch could not confirm allegations that Atiku is part owner of a U.S-based company called Environmental Remediation Holding Corporation, ERHC, with Offor. Offor acquired the company in 1999 and allegedly boasts that the company is listed in New York Stock Exchange, NYSE. Nnoruka also insisted that the ERHC was listed at the exchange and that its shares appreciated 13 percent in early January and that Offor owned 90 percent of the company. Although he could not give specific figures, Nnoruka said ERHC is worth several hundreds of millions of dollars and had more than four staff in US, London , Sao Tome and Nigeria. But Newswatch could not find ERHC in the list of companies at the NYSE. This may be that the capitalisation of the company is not big enough for listing at the exchange. For a company to be listed it must have about 100 shareholders, a total of 2,200 stockholders together with an average monthly trading volume of 100,000 shares or 500 stockholders, together with an average monthly trading volume of 1,100,000 shares among other things. NYSE listing manual says a company must demonstrate an aggregate value of publicly-held shares of $60,000,000 for companies that list either at the time of their initial public offering or as a result of spin-offs or under the affiliated company standard, and $100,000,000 for other companies. Information obtained from company information on the website as at January 7, 2002 , however, listed Offor as chairman of ERHC and Chude Mba and Eze Echesi, as president and chief financial officer, respectively. ERHC has four employees with a market capitalisation of 106,739,640, total shares outstanding 533,698,199 while closely held shares are 10,159,068. ERHC was used to get the juicy oil bloc concessions from Sao Tome and Principe mentioned in the Transparency Watch petition. Both Offor and Atiku were present at the inauguration ceremony of Tradique de Menezes, president of Sao Tome and Principe recently. Nnoruka admitted that Offor gave financial assistance to the party of the president in Sao Tome but insisted that the several oil blocs ERHC had in the country was not a compensation of any kind. He said that ERHC had been operating in Sao Tome in the mid-90s and was doing badly because people of Sao Tome felt that the company was cheating and they put obstacles on its way until Offor bought it in 1999 and turned it around. He said Offor should be lauded for making such a stride in international business. Sources close to the vice-president argue Sao Tome and Principe had the right to decide how to run its economy and was not obliged to throw open the tender for the oil bloc to Nigerians. The sources said over time Nigeria had always tried to influence the emergence of pro- Nigerian governments in any elections in the west coast in conformity with its foreign policy to ensure a stable region, citing Niger , Ghana , as two recent examples. "Don´t forget that majority of Nigerians do business in the west coast and Nigerian foreign policy is to use them to assist foreign countries instead of direct government involvement. In the case of Sao Tome , Nigeria also helped. We don´t use government funds anymore. What we do is to get Nigerians who are doing business with those countries to assist in the emergence of pro-Nigerian governments. In this instance, Offor, like other Nigerians, assisted the president to get into office by giving him money and logistics. They treat him like a head of state," the sources said. Offor allegedly used his connection with the vice-president to corner the $8 billion NEPA contract for building the Yola/Bauchi transmission line. The original sum for the contract was said to be $6 billion. Pivot Engineering allegedly came first on the list of bidders. Annoyed that the contract was awarded to Chrome, Pivot allegedly petitioned the presidency, Newswatch gathered. Mamah said that Atiku did not assist Offor to corner the NEPA contract. "It was an open tender handled by NEPA management and approved by the federal executive council," he said. Other aides at the presidential villa said that no one person could influence a contract of that magnitude which had to be approved at the highest level. They said that the contract was approved by the presidency and that if the president didn´t want Offor to have the contract, he would have cancelled it. There is a certain reluctance on the part of some NEPA officials to give accurate information on the contract. When Newswatch contacted NEPA in August, its top officials denied there was any project as Yola/Bauchi transmission line. But Newswatch learnt that Chrome Consortium was paid part of the contract sum in December. Olusegun Ahmadu, business development director, Pivot Engineering Company, Lagos , on December 22, denied any knowledge of the contract. He said that Pivot neither applied for the contract nor petitioned the presidency on the contract. Ahmadu, who called in two of his colleagues as witnesses before speaking to Newswatch, also said that his company was never interested in the contract. "To the best of my knowledge Pivot did not apply for the Bauchi-Yola NEPA transmission line contract. We did not come first. It is not our business to know how NEPA goes about its job," Ahmadu stressed. Offor is allegedly using his political relationship with the vice-president to intimidate political opponents. Newswatch confirmed that Offor physically attacked Dan Ulasi, a businessman and a PDP member in the office of Audu Ogbe, PDP chairman at Wadata plaza, Abuja , December 7. Ogbe immediately called Atiku on phone to complain. An official in the office of the chairman told Newswatch that the official position was that no such scuffle took place since Ogbe assumed duty. Nnoruka angrily describes Ulasi as "a failed businessman who does not belong in the same class as Offor. "Offor is not a pugnacious person. He doesn´t go about fighting people in the streets," he said. Offor uses aides to fight his political opponents too. At the same time, he can easily influence the authorities to investigate them, even though petitions against him remain largely uninvestigated because his powerful friends fear that if Offor goes down they too will go with him. A case in point was the recent investigation of Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju of Anambra, over a petition Group Captain N.B Nnoruka wrote on behalf of Offor. The petition was part of Offor´s game plan to thwart the peace effort being brokered between him and Mbadinuju by Obasanjo to end their long drawn quarrel, which assumed national importance when the peace meeting was televised nationwide last year. The chairman of the peace committee was Atiku but Offor insisted that final peace could not be achieved unless the petition was investigated to prove that his opposition against Mbadinuju was on moral grounds. In the petition dated August 8, 2001 and addressed to the president, Nnoruka made allegations of "money laundering or gross misappropriation of fund and demanded investigation in the interest of the nation." The group captain alleged that one Uche Lilian Ekwunife, the manager, Standard Trust Bank, Awka, abused monetary regulation. He said that Ekwunife, her husband and their child, Chidiebele were sole directors of Luch Nigeria Limited and that the company operates two different accounts in the said bank with account numbers 02505974101103 and 02505974102155, respectively. He alleged that the mode of operations of this account was outlandish, that several hundreds of millions of naira were paid in cash by using fictitious names. Ekwunife, he said, transferred cash from the account outside Nigeria ´s shores causing untold damage to the economy. Nnoruka said on 30th of April, 2000 and 4th October, 2000 , Ekwunife transferred N100 million and N755 million out, respectively. And that on the 30th Of October 2000, N805 million or $6,939,655 was transferred from the two accounts by the same woman to Queens International Bank in Russia in favour of a company named Mbadi Construction Company Limited, with account number 513826771830. Another N830 million was allegedly transferred out of the account on the 21st of June 2001 . Equally in July 2001, the said Uche Ekwunife transferred from the same said account N1.1 billion amounting to $9,234679, all to Queens International Bank in favour of the same Mbadi Construction Limited with account number 5133826771830. Said Nnoruka: "Corruption may be a friend to some people and institutions, which profit from it but, to societies, it is a social malaise that is regarded as a public enemy. The abuse of office for private gain unofficially ends disastrous for governance and development. It also accelerates crime, hurts investments, stalls economic growth, bleeds the national budget, burdens the poor disproportionately, and diverts scarce resources from basic human needs. It is our prayer therefore that you cause investigation to be carried out in respect of these curious monetary deals. We are now calling on the authorities in the interest of the survival of this great nation to look into this matter causing untold hardship to the people of Anambra and Nigeria in general." Newswatch has in its possession all the copies of documents, which Nnoruka attached to the petition to authenticate his allegations. They include what he said was a certified true copy of Form Co7 of Luch Nigeria Limited, a duly signed search report on the same said company and copies of statements of transfer of funds from the account. Sequel to the petition by Nnoruka, the president caused the CBN to investigate. The CBN not finding any irregularities in banking transactions, thereafter recommended to the president that a thorough investigation should be carried out by an appropriate government agency, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, to ascertain the legitimacy or otherwise of the companies´ sources of funds. The appropriate government agency should formalise the freezing of the accounts by seeking a garnishee order from the court, CBN advised. Consequently, the president directed and authorised NDLEA to take necessary action to freeze the accounts that should be frozen and to investigate the accounts for money laundering. Upon the receipt of the presidential directives, the accounts were promptly frozen and investigations instituted to authenticate the veracity of the petition. The investigation covered the motive of the petition, identity of the accused, their banking transactions vis-à-vis money laundering, legitimacy of their sources of income and their relationship with the Anambra State government. The findings of the investigation were circulated to Atiku, the inspector-general of police, the CBN governor, and the senior special assistant on media and publicity, the presidency through a letter signed by Taiwo Ojo, personal assistant to the president. According to the NDLEA, investigations showed that the petitioner did not know the Ekwunifes and had no previous problems with them. "However, he has petitioned against them because he and his colleagues, especially Sir Emeka Offor, believe that they are being used by the governor, Dr. Mbadinuju, to siphon government money," NDLEA said. NDLEA said the seeming objective of the petitioner was to expose suspected money laundering activities but that the actual motivating goal was to politically ruin the state governor. According to NDLEA, the petitioner intended to achieve this by "waging a political war whose objectives are to ensure the political demise of the governor, ensure the eventual prosecution of the governor and his associates and the eventual recovery of the monies allegedly "looted" by the governor and his associates." NDLEA said that available evidence indicated that Ekwunife was a businessman, whose involvement included construction, merchandising and manufacturing. He and his wife owned two companies, Luch Nig.Ltd. and Chien Lu Construction Company. Ekwunife, according to NDLEA report, also imported and sold textiles at the Onitsha market and at Balogun market, Lagos . In addition, he owned a bottled water manufacturing plant at Awka. It said that the Ekwunifes did all their banking transactions with Standard Trust Bank, Awka, Onitsha and Lagos . Thus Luch Nig Ltd operated two accounts with the bank at Awka AC Nos.02505974101103 and 02505974102155. Both accounts were opened on December 8, 1999, while Chien Lu Construction Company operates Ac. No. 025-0232310111- 03 at the same branch. This account was opened in January 2001. Ekwunife is the sole signatory to all the accounts. The report said that the Ekwunifes also transacted business with other companies and individuals, who also operate several savings and call deposit accounts with the bank. The total cash balance in all these accounts at the date they were frozen was N654,058,329.62. The report said that the Ekwunifes´ sources of income were discovered to be contracts from Anambra State government and merchandising of textiles and plumbing materials and that the water plant was yet to start sales. Investigation showed that between January 2000 and 16 August, 2001 , the Anambra State government awarded six contracts worth N97,662,072 to Luch Nigeria Ltd., while eight contracts worth N93,834,929 were awarded to Chien Lu between January 2001 and August, 2001. Six contracts worth N118,061,401 were also awarded to two companies and four individuals but these were sub-contracted to the Ekwunifes. It said that the total value of all the Anambra State government contracts handled by the Ekwunife companies was N309,558,402. NDLEA found that the state government did all its transaction through the Standard Trust Bank, Awka. "The government enjoys special banking facilities from the bank. As a result, a special relationship has developed between the bank´s management and the government. This relationship has been extended to the Ekwunife companies, because the bank manager is a director of the companies. This is why their companies have been able to attract several government contracts," NDLEA said. It said that contracts obtained from the government were from the ministry of works and transport, ministry of housing and environment and the bureau of basic infrastructure. According to NDLEA, "no evidence of large and or illegal transfers of funds was found; no evidence of payments under fictitious names was found. The Ekwunifes´ own Luch Nig. Ltd. and Chien Lu Construction companies which operate several accounts with Standard Trust Bank, Awka." It said that "although the Ekwunifes have been highly favoured by the Anambra State government in the award of contracts, there is no evidence to suggest that any illegality has been perpetrated." "The allegation of transfer of N3.59 billion cannot be substantiated because all the monies the Ekwunifes have ever had in all their accounts was N1,315,163,971. All lodgments into the Ekwunife accounts as paid by the state government and their business outfits/associates were legitimate. A prima facie case of money laundering cannot be adduced from the available facts," the agency said. NDLEA concluded: "The petition is politically motivated and frivolous." Among other things, NDLEA recommended that "given that the petition was frivolous and politically motivated, the government of Anambra State may be advised to seek a political solution to the grievances that prompted the petitioner." It recommended that: "since the allegations of money laundering and financial irregularities are unsubstantiated, the petition should be dismissed as null and void." And in the absence of a prima facie case of money laundering and financial/contractual illegalities being established against the Ekwunifes and their companies, their accounts might be defrozen. Traced to their house in Awka on December 15, Ekwunife, who said her husband travelled, declined to comment on the issue on the grounds that she would have to seek her husband and bank´s permission before speaking. But close family sources told Newswatch the allegations and freezing of their accounts and the investigation was a trying time for the family. The source said people called Ekwunife when she travelled overseas to have her baby warning her not to come back to Nigeria for fear of being jailed. But she insisted on coming home because she did nothing wrong. Mbadinuju also looked forward to being discharged and acquitted when he learnt of the investigation. He was not surprised that he was cleared. "Because when I learnt about the probe, I talked with the president and I asked him, did you authorise my investigation? He said he did. So, I asked: are you probing a sitting governor? He said yes, he can do so but the governor cannot be prosecuted according to law. In any case, he said if he did not people will think that he was covering up. I said all right. If at the end nothing was found what happens? He said, well, the person who made the report will face the law. I said okay go ahead. At that stage I was definite the investigation was to be made. And I knew I had not committed the offence. So, I looked forward to being discharged and acquitted," Mbadinuju said. Continued the governor: "But you never really can tell. It is just that it happened under the president. A mischievous person wanting to witch-hunt could still get the report re-written at any stage to find somebody liable . But in this case I have to thank Mr. President for his sincere mindedness on this matter. At least he took the report and he was the person who congratulated me when the report came out and said that now you should walk with your head high." Mbadinuju said the police had not set up a probe into all the allegations made against Offor by the state. One of such allegations is his alleged use of security personnel to harass people in Anambra. Mbadinuju wrote the national security adviser in July, last year complaining about Offor´s misuse of the police to destabilise the state. He said this was a serious threat to democracy and federalism in Nigeria . The letter dated July 25, 2001 , chronicled 15 incidents where Offor allegedly used of the police in the state. One of such incidents was when more than 20 mobile policemen serving in his country home at Oraifite arrested Gilbert Okoye, former chairman of the state vigilante services, whom he accused of killing one Ezeodumegwu Okonkwo from Ekwulumili. The man was tortured and detained for two days in Offor´s house before he was taken to Abuja where he was detained for three months without trial. Mbadinuju said he made a report to the police to investigate the accusation by Offor that he allegedly killed or masterminded the killing of Ezeodumegwu. This accusation, he said, amounted to a criminal libel/defamation, but till today the police had not been able to get Offor to make a statement on the matter. On July 21, 2001 , the governor said that mobile policemen numbering more than 200 were used in the Anambra People´s Forum, APF, sponsored by Offor despite protests by the Catholic Bishop of St. Mary´s Church that his church premises should not be used for political meetings. "It was the police that broke into the church premises and invited Emeka Offor´s people to begin to mount canopies," he said. The policemen came from Abuja , Lagos , Delta, Enugu , Imo and Abia States , the governor said. Offor was also said to have used the police to disrupt the wedding of Ikechukwu Obiora, a lawyer. Obiora contested for senatorial primaries and won but was rigged out. He fought gallantly to regain his position and filed a case in court. In his desperate bid to stop him, Offor allegedly sent a team of his mobile policemen to capture Obiora at the venue of his wedding. Offor´s men were not able to capture Obiora at the church premises so they headed for the venue of the reception. On sighting them, Obiora managed to escape from the hall with an injury, leaving his wife crying and guests at the wedding bewildered. December 28, 2001 , Anambra State House of Assembly was invaded by thugs believed to be Offor´s supporters. A security report sent by Mbadinuju said that Offor´s supporters in their desire to sabotage the smooth operation of the house and stop the successful passing of the 2001 supplementary budget, laid siege and prevented the house from sitting. Mbadinuju said the operation began as early as 8.40 a.m. when four L300 buses carrying about 60 thugs fully armed with automatic weapons and two milk-coloured jeeps carrying eight mobile policemen drove into the premises led by Nnoruka. A reinforcement came thirty minutes later, when 608 frame bus carrying about 30 armed thugs drove into the house of assembly complex and took positions at strategic areas. By 11.04 a.m. a convoy of about eight vehicles accompanied by several armed mobile policemen and four other men wearing black rain coat type bullet proof vests led by Offor and Annie Okonkwo also drove into the complex. They made straight to the office of the deputy speaker of the house and insisted that there would be no sitting of the house, the report said. It said on Friday, December 28, at 6.40 a.m. another six L300 vehicles brought in more than 100 armed men to the complex. At exactly 7.00a.m, a team of 60 mobile policemen took up positions around the assembly complex, each of them carrying three loaded magazines. It said that Offor and Okonkwo rode in with a convoy of about 10 vehicles, all wearing bullet proof vests and barricaded the entrance to the house boasting that there must be a bloodbath in order to get the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the state. "I had severally in the past intimated you of the abuse and misuse of the police by Emeka Offor to destabilise Anambra State . We have deliberately tolerated this believing that reason will prevail. The people of Anambra State are no longer ready to allow one man to hold the entire state to ransom. We hereby appeal to your Excellency to call this man to order or hold him responsible for any breakdown of law and order in Anambra State ," the governor pleaded. Newswatch learnt that for the first time Obasanjo reacted positively to the security report directing the inspector-general of police, Musiliu Smith, who sent a large contingent of police to break up the siege at the assembly complex. Nnoruka said that the police did not disperse his group but chased away Bakassi men. He said that they facilitated more police to be there to deter Bakassi people from intimidating some members of the house. He defended the use of police during the launching of the APF, saying that the government of the state was very hostile to them and they needed police protection to carry on with their function. According to him, the governor swore that he would crush any opposition whether with Bakassi or through any means. "So, when APF was to be launched in Awka, there were broadcasts that anybody that went there would have himself to blame. It said it cannot guarantee anybody´s safety. That is why we wrote to the inspector-general asking him to come and see. They sent contingents of police that were detached from various states. This is democracy. Is that abuse? I want to know what this has to do with Emeka Offor. Is it his own police that flooded everywhere that day? If that is what you refer to as abuse of police, I am sorry because your definition is terrible," he said. He described Offor as a law-abiding citizen. Haz Iwendi, the force PRO, said it was not true that Offor gets the police through Bukar Ali, deputy inspector-general of police. According to him, the DIG is not a field commander and has no control. "It is within the purview of a field commander, who determines the extent of threat. Escorts are not given from the headquarters or by force headquarters. They are given by a local commander, commissioner. Does the governor know the number of escorts he has? If they are saying 35 which is half a unit. It is vindictive counting. Twenty-five is our half a unit. Then to give somebody 35. Haba! It is not possible," he said. Iwendi said the police were still investigating the governor´s petition and expecting a report. "Murder cases are not cases you investigate overnight. Many things unfold and we will check them out when they unfold," he said. The police are, however, equivocal about the investigation into the alleged $186 million deal. Iwendi told Newswatch on phone January 3, that he could not confirm whether investigation into the case was on. "I cannot confirm if investigation is on. I never said that there is no investigation going on. I want to be quoted as saying that if we receive a petition we will investigate. As far as we are concerned, if there is any such petition sent to the IG, he will investigate. That´s our job. If somebody says that somebody transferred money, it is an allegation. Anybody can do that. Investigation will be able to determine whether such transfer is illegal or not," he said.
Newswatch (Lagos), February 25, 2002
www.allafrica.com/stories
Chrome Energy Corporation is owned by Sir Emeka Offor, a wealthy businessman who was closely associated with the late Nigerian dictator Sami Abacha—who stole an estimated four billion dollars from the state while he was in power, from 1993 to 1998—and is now close to President Obasanjo. In May of last year, around the time Miguel Trovoada approached Fradique and asked him if he would like to become São Tomé’s next President, a deal with E.R.H.C., which by then was a subsidiary of Chrome, was signed.
“Did money change hands, do you think?” I asked Fradique.
“I have no proof of that,” he said. “Maybe journalists can help find out.” He guffawed. A big cockroach scuttled under the table, and Fradique tried to stamp on it but missed.
“When I actually read the contracts, I couldn’t accept them,” Fradique said, bitterly. “This is business. Each person is trying to win the good piece of cake for himself. I have no problem with that. But here we are playing with the lives of one hundred and forty thousand people in São Tomé and Príncipe, who live in misery—O.K., not as great misery as others in Africa, but still badly. I’m not promoting a contest of the poor, but here you can see places where there is no running water, no lights, destroyed roads, no jobs, malaria. We’re a poor country. So why should we jeopardize our chances?”
Gavin Hayman, of Global Witness, told me later that he had seen the offending contracts and that Fradique was right to challenge them. “The E.R.H.C.-São Tomé deal has been described as one of the worst in the oil industry’s checkered history,” Hayman said. “E.R.H.C. got an incredibly lucrative arrangement under almost totally opaque conditions.”
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/content/?030728fr_archive02
And more fruit.
... It was entirely unprecedented that ERHC/Chrome would not have to pay a signature bonus for the oil concessions to STP. Signature bonuses for a single oil block elsewhere in the Gulf of Guinea previously fetched between several million US$ to over US$ 300 million in Angola. It is also unprecedented to grant a company rights to future petroleum taxation and payments, which would ordinarily accrue to the state budget. According to IMF estimations, ERHC/Chrome's taxable income from the JDZ could reach roughly US$ 70 million per year for the period 2005-2024, amounting to some US$ 1,446.8 million in total67. ERHC/Chrome has only paid several million to the STP government since 1997 and it is not expected to do much in return for the future income stream.
We are not aware of any similar precedent in the history of Africa's oil industry since the end of colonialism. It is an unparalleled development to give so many oil blocks and prerogatives to a single company without a bidding process, let alone a small obscure firm with few notable assets which was on the verge of bankruptcy at one point. Indeed, ERHC was already in financial trouble when Tirman, who first became an investor in the company in 1997, took control in August 1999. There was no money to run the company, nor any cash to make a final US$ 1 million payment to the STP government The respectable Platt's Oilgram News wondered as early as July 1998 how a company «with a scant US$ 1.5-million in cash and just US$ 30 million in market capitalization» could find a partner for an estimated US$ 50 million cost of the concession sale. This lack of capital was matched by ERHC's lack of expertise for the contracted task.
It is clear that political connections were key to the various agreements. A major beneficiary of the 2001 agreement is obviously the Nigerian side - Chrome of Emeka Offor and his associates. Emeka Offor - the Chrome owner - has links with the inner circle of the Nigerian government including Vice President Atiku Abubakar, one of Nigeria's five top men in charge of petroleum policy. Offor also happens to be amongst the biggest financial backers of the ruling PDP in Nigeria. Allegations have even been reportedly made that Atiku Abubakar is «part owner» of ERHC/Chrome. However, no proof has been presented and the allegations have been denied by both sides, so they must be taken with caution. But it is clear that Emeka Offor and the Chrome consortium have had friends at the top levels of both the Nigerian and the STP government.
The 2001 agreement between Chrome Oil and STP might have involved more than meets the eye. An interesting detail is that the agreement was actually conditional upon the creation of the JDZ. The two sides decided that the agreement would only become effective when the treaty between Nigeria and STP on the joint development of petroleum and other resources in areas of the EEZ of the two nations had become effective. One can only speculate whether the Nigerian government's stance over the JDZ had anything to do with Offor's business interests.
The contract between STP and PGS is less favourable to the foreign company by comparison with ERHC. PGS is also in a different league from ERHC. Although the company had experienced serious financial difficulties in the last twelve months, PGS was considered a serious player in the oil servicing sector. However, the contract between STP and PGS also raises questions of accountability and transparency. PGS came to STP at the time when Nigerian business interests became influential; interestingly, the company previously did substantial work in Nigeria, where it reportedly had a son of the Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo amongst its employees. The secret deal with the STP government gave PGS the right to three offshore blocs of its choice. While PGS told us in an interview that this option only becomes effective if PGS does not get a return on its investment in STP, this contractual arrangement is also exceedingly favourable to the company.
Another beneficiary of STP's questionable oil contracts was Chris Hellinger, the South African who has had many non-oil business interests in STP. Hellinger has been a key player in STP for two decades. He enjoyed top-level political connections in STP, Gabon and Angola and has been alleged to have had good links with individuals closely associated with South African Military Intelligence and French intelligence. In STP, Hellinger owned and operated a charter air service, the exclusive Marlin Beach Hotel in São Tomé, the Bom-Bom resort in Principe, a fleet of boats and the company Solar Construction, although he told us that he wants to sell some of his assets on the twin islands. In the 1980s, he led the way in oil exploration in STP through his company Island Oil Exploration Ltd. and he still holds some shares in ERHC/Chrome, which were apparently part of a payment for Island Oil's seismic data. In February 1999, Hellinger signed a contract with the STP government for creating a logistical petroleum base through Island Oil which obtained the sole right to oversee the financing and development of an offshore logistics centre. As with the ERHC and PGS contracts, there was no competitive bidding round for the contract despite the keen interest of others. The project apparently failed because of the inability to attract enough financial backers.
http://www.lusotopie.sciencespobordeaux.fr/frynas2003.rtf+emeka+offor+Mobil
By their fruits ...
And, Mr. Mx - the rest of the quote bears on the issue.
You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Ammended Returns, Late Filings, Incorrect Filings, 3.x Million Dollars per year for 3-4 employees, Excessive Offocer (sic) compensation, 635 Million shares Outstanding, Prior Default on PSA, Not even showing up for a shareholder's meeting, No assets, excessive interest rates (over 100%) on 'loans', no Independent directors, no Independent Audit committee, Violation of SEC regulations (major lawsuit settled out of court to hide the actual problems), Libelous postings ...
Let's try this one on for size also, Mx:
But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.
ten2ten - that would be redundant - me pointing out any positives. There are at least 50 times as many posters around to do that. That aspect of the so-called DD is already oversaturated.
It would be a waste of my time, and yours. The postives have been posted, reposted, gurgitated and regurgitated innumerable times. Do you REALLY want to waste your time and my time also ?
Think about that before coming back with the knee-jerk response of 'bashing does nobody any good'. Not true. One poster today has already admitted that the negative information revealed in Mongo's and My posts caused him to look a lot deeper.
Obviously, his time was not wasted. So please don't ask me to start wasting everybody's time. It would be silly.
Now, why don't you try pointing out the negatives - with due diligence applied in an unbiased manner ? Cut the conjecture, and state the obvious negatives in a forthright manner. If you still think it is a 'good deal' after that - fine. It will be your own personal financial decision based on solid, unemotional due diligence.
You'll become a much more prosperous investor or trader.
No, it was logical. Your posts with the incessant 'all negative posters are evil, paid, shortin, snortin, bashers' is the most intricately silly piece of nonsense floating on the Internet today.
Hunh ? That post was entirely unintelligible. Please edit it into coherent thoughts.
Your anger appears to be short circuiting your ability to communicate - ie. I am seeing evidence that you are so angry you could spit.
I am negative on ERHC. Absolutely. Not a doubt about it.
The 'charter' post on this board says that criticism is allowed, and pumping is not.
So far, I see little evidence that the charter is upheld equally.
Thank-you,
MonkeyT
Mx - then using the same criteria - 'paid to move the market up or down so they profit or others ...'
the posts of all the longs would also have to be removed.
By definition, they are PAID to move the market up or down, profit from their positive posting.
So, the only posts that should be allowed are people that are not invested in the stock, not employed by brokers, or any others involved in the stock market.
By that criteria, the posts from Mongo and Myself are pretty much the only posts that should be allowed to remain on this site.
It's your rule - Mr. Mx.
ten2ten - as are you - playing the same record repeatedly.
Facts and solid DD can be quite boring to those that do not wish to hear or see anything potentially wrong with that which that person has already committed himelf. In fact, it can be downright unsettling.
Iceking - good post. Any investor SHOULD have already answered the questions that I posed to their own satisfaction. For trading, DD has little relevance.
Gigwoof - you have libeled me in your latest post.
Matt should immediately remove you as a moderator from this board, because it is obvious that you are unable to stay on the topic of ERHC - devote large portions of your posts to talking about me, and Mongo, and are entirely too invested in this stock to be anywhere close to objective.
You're motive of 'making money' is stated up-front, and to that end, so blinds you that you are intent on only allowing positive statements about ERHC, quite in contradiction to the precepts of this site.
Gigwoof - step down from having any part in moderating this board. You are entirely too biased due to your deep investment.
My posts have been on target about aspects that certainly should be questioned about ERHC.
Yours have been almost 100% targetted against myself and Mongo.
FACT is ... a possibility ? WOWZERS, BB !!
Show substantiated FACT (not ERHC) of your claims:
1.) That PXD, NOBLE, DVN submitted bids WITH erhc.
2.) That there are ANY participation agreements by the three above - verified by NON-ERHC sourced material.
3.) ANYPLACE AT ALL where PXD, NBL, DVN publicly state that they 'WANT' to partner with erhc. At best, they are being FORCED to partner with erhc - IF INDEED, said 'partnership' (see #2 above)
actually exists.
4.) Big gorilla and little monkey - Nigeria and STP relationship.
FACT IS, BB, that XOM very actively fought being forced into partnership with erhc. And that is why the last bidding round of 2003 was almost 100% vacated - and only one block is even now being awarded.
There is a LOT of political risk in this stock - and a LOT of history on the supposed 'rights' of erhc. MOBIL held up their end of the previous bargains - erhc defaulted on ALL their obligations. That is FACT and is part of the record.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Mx - have you verified the "PARTICIPATION AGREEMENTS" yet that Offor claims in the 10K filing ?
If not, then you aren't being an astute investor.
The maxim: Trust, but always verify.
I pointed out before that the ONLY verification to date was a very weak 'Joint Exploration' MOU. MOU's are considered virtually worthless in stockland. Every seasoned investor or trader knows that fact. Equally worthless are 'LOI' or "letters of intent".
... Should circumstances impede the Company from perfecting its interests in the 2001 Agreement with DRSTP or the 2003 Option Agreement, the Company would cease to exist ...
Quoted directly from the latest annual filing.
Thanks Mongo. That is certainly verifiable.
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=ERHC&read=95590
Mongo - PXD, Noble et.al. have to be asking exactly the same questions.
THE RULE in the oilfield is 'thou shalt pay thy proportional share' - and the old days of 1/4 for a 1/3 are GONE.
It didn't work back then, doesn't work today. You don't do business with a company that you are pretty sure will not be able to make their cash calls. And these calls (for ultra-deep-water drilling) are going to be killers. Forget the incredible calls for going to actual production - the exploration costs are high.
Too high, imo, for a company like erhc to ever have a legitimate working interest of such magnitudes as they desire.
Joe, thanks for the link to the PXD statement about 'Joint Exploration Agreement'.
Please note that the company also claims in the recent 10-K that a 'Participation Agreement' has been reached.
This is a distinctly separate type of agreement from the PXD statement - one that is STILL unconfirmed by either publication of the agreement, or by any statement from PXD about that Participation Agreement having been reached.
The 10K statement:
In August 2004, the Company entered into a Participation Agreement with Pioneer Natural Resources whereby the companies will jointly apply for rights in the production sharing contract for Block 2 of the JDZ.
This statement is NOT substantiated by the link you provided to the PXD (investor update) 425 Filing of 21 Sep, 2004. Nor is it backed up by a filing of PSA/PA document in the 10K - as would be required for such a document. (required of erhc - not of PXD).
The erhc August filing stating the nature of the agreement is from your link to the 10-Q :
On June 24, 2004 the Company entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Pioneer Natural Resources USA, Inc., the wholly-owned subsidiary of Pioneer Natural Resources Company (“Pioneer”) for Block 2 of the JDZ in the Gulf of Guinea offshore West Africa. The Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) provides a period of exclusivity whereby the companies will jointly evaluate and negotiate participation in Block 2 of the JDZ. The MOU also sets forth the terms and conditions under which the companies will enter into a Participation Agreement relating to Block 2 of the JDZ. Pioneer is a large independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, Canada, Argentina, South Africa, Gabon and Tunisia. See Note 7.
Note that the nature of the MOU announced above precisely agrees with PXD's characterization of the agreement - A Joint Exploration Agreement. As I stated in a previous post, these can be very weak documents. You have substantiated, through good research I might add, that statement.
This is more than a 'minor' discrepancy between the two filings.
This is a substantial change of characterization of the agreement.
The challenge to show PXD confirmation of a Participation Agreement stands.
Mr.Mxyzptlk has properly shown the MOU/"Joint Exploration Agreement" to have been acknowledged by PXD. That portion of the challenge has been satisfied.
Thank-you, Joe.