Mr. Amamgbo, who is chief executive of Mezcor Oil and Gas limited, Tridax Oil and Gas Limited, Lynear Energy Limited and Bulk Strategic Reserved Limited, was arrested in Lagos at about 4.20 P.M Thursday, February 25, 2016.
Investigators claim evidence gathered so far suggested the oil mogul might have acted as front for Mrs Alison-Madueke, who granted him approval to lift Nigerian crude oil without any requisite experience.
“Through his companies, Amamgbo lifted crude oil and gas worth billions of dollars over a period of four years, a search conducted in the office and premises of Mezcor Oil and Gas Limited at No. 5 Sannar street, Wuse 2, Abuja yielded documents which included payments for the purchase of houses and vehicles.”
Sources at the anti-graft agency said the investigation was continuing.
When Premium Times contacted, the spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, said, “I am told there is something like that but I don’t have the details.”
The former minister’s husband was earlier arrested and released on February 18 as part of the investigations into her stewardship at the oil industry.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke was arrested on October 2, 2015, in London by the UK National Crimes Agency for alleged overseas corruption and money laundering.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s tenure as petroleum minister turned out one of Nigeria’s most controversial, amid unending allegations of corruption.
Under her watch, dubious oil marketers stole trillions of naira of oil subsidy money. She retained her position after the House of Representative investigated the scandal and indicted the minister.
Probes by independent audit firms, including the KPMG and Pricewaterahousecoopers, confirmed billions of dollars of oil money were missing, the most notable being $20 billion in 2014.
Long before her stint in the oil and gas sector, Mrs. Alison-Madueke was investigated by the Nigerian Senate on the allegation she paid N30.9 billion to contractors while she held office as transportation minister.
In 2009, the Senate also indicted Mrs. Alison-Madueke and recommended her for prosecution for allegedly transferring N1.2 billion into a private account of a toll company without due process.
Regardless of the mounting criticisms against her stewardship, Mrs. Alison-Maduke got elected in November 2014 as the first female president of oil cartel the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
The former minister consistently denied any wrongdoing.
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