Bank of Valletta told police Ugandan ministers had no accounts with them

This news story was corrected and updated on 19 October 2011 at 10:18am.

Additional reporting by Matthew Vella

None of the two Ugandan ministers accused of receiving bribes from oil driller Tullow have bank accounts in the UK or Malta, according to documents seen by The Irish Times.

According to letters signed by the London Metropolitan Police and by Maltese economic crimes unit, which were presented to the Ugandan parliament, none of the ministers mentioned appeared in bank records.

Maltese police responding to a formal request from Ugandan investigators, said that after a thorough investigation by Bank of Valletta staff, “it was concluded without any doubt that the companies and persons mentioned in the Letter Rogatory do not hold any accounts with BOV [Bank of Valletta] and the transactions receipt submitted are forgeries as no such transfer of monies had ever taken place”.

The letter is signed by police inspector Maurice Curmi of the economic crimes unit and dated 21 June, 2011.

A report carried in the Ugandan ‘Observer’ newspaper said an ad hoc committee team of MPs who are yet to be designated will be travelling to Malta, Kenya and to the United Arab Emirates, to verify documents tabled in the Ugandan Parliament claiming bribes were paid to two Ugandan ministers.

The controversy has a long history: back in 2009, a Tullow Oil official told the US embassy in Kampala that his firm believed Italian oil giant ENI had “made personal payments” to Ugandan ministers in an attempt to win exploration licenses, namely the 50% share of its partner Heritage Oil on Lake Albert. Tullow claimed it had the right of first refusal on this share.

Now an Ugandan MP is saying Tulllow paid millions in bribes to two Ugandan ministers to take the oil exploration licence: Hilary Onek, who was the country’s minister of energy when Malta driller Heritage Oil sold its 50% stake in two oil blocks to Tullow Oil; and foreign minister Sam Kutesa for €17 million and €5 million each respectively.

The MP alleged that the money passed from a Tullow account in Bank of Valletta passed through a recipient bank in Dubai before being passed on two ministers

Heritage Oil has drilling interests in two Maltese oil exploration blocks.

The claims of bribery were first made by a Tullow official to the US ambassador in Kamapala, revealed in leaked embassy cables on Wikileaks.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has dismissed as “absolute rubbish” allegations that he could have received personal payments from ENI in return for Heritage Oil’s exploration rights and said Tullow Oil official Andy Demetriou, who reportedly made the claims, is an “idiot”.

Andy Demetriou, Tullow Oil Uganda’s head of external relations, reportedly told Don Cordell, the former economic affairs officer at the US mission in Kampala, that top officials in the energy ministry took bribes from Heritage Oil to move into their 50 per cent share of the Lake Albert exploration.

The Ugandan government could not verify the bribery claims made in the cables revealed by Wikileaks, which were sent by US Embassy officials to Washington D.C and were not meant to be publicly circulated.

Apparently classified by Cordell, and signed off by Ambassador Jerry Lanier, the cables note: “Demetriou accused ENI of using similar tactics in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to acquire exploration licenses on the Congolese side of Lake Albert allegedly already purchased by Tullow.”

With President Yoweri Museveni publicly stating that two separate investigations had revealed that documents relied on by his country’s Parliament to cause the investigation and call on the named ministers to step aside were forged, doubts have been raised about their authenticity.

“The documents are going to be investigated, but as an accountant, from what I saw, the documents were true. But we only need the bank statements to authenticate them,” said Opposition leader Nandala Mafabi.