FORMER NNPC OFFICIAL JAILED 87 MONTHS IN US OVER $2.1M BRIBERY, MONEY LAUNDERING

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By Aishat Momoh. O.

A former official of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Paulinus Iheanacho Okoronkwo, has been sentenced to 87 months’ imprisonment in the United States after being convicted of accepting a $2.1 million bribe from a Swiss oil firm while serving at the state-owned oil company.

Okoronkwo, 58, also known as “Pollie,” was further ordered to pay $923,824 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and to forfeit $1,039,997 — proceeds linked to the sale of a property tied to laundering the bribe funds.

The sentence was handed down by John F. Walter, a judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, following a four-day trial in August 2025, according to a statement by the United States Department of Justice.

Court records show that a jury convicted Okoronkwo on three counts of transactional money laundering, one count of tax evasion, and one count of obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors said that in October 2015, Addax Petroleum, a Switzerland-based subsidiary of Sinopec, wired $2,105,263 to an Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Account (IOLTA) belonging to Okoronkwo’s Los Angeles law firm. Although labelled as consultancy fees for negotiating drilling rights in Nigeria, authorities alleged the payment was a bribe aimed at securing favourable crude oil terms.

Investigators found that the engagement letter bore a fictitious Lagos address and was allegedly designed to disguise the true nature of the transaction. Portions of the funds were reportedly transferred to IPO Capital LLC and used for personal expenses, including the purchase of a vehicle and a residential property in Valencia, California.

Okoronkwo was also accused of failing to declare the $2.1 million in his 2015 federal tax return. In June 2022, he allegedly obstructed justice by telling federal investigators that the funds were client monies rather than income used for property acquisitions.

Following the scandal, he was dismissed from NNPCL, and the State Bar of California suspended his law licence in January 2026.