IPNews-Monrovia,Liberia-3 April 2018: As controversy mounts over inside-shady deal of muti-million dollars oil giant Exxonmobil, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, under whose leadership this oil deal worth oil $120 million was signed, has confirmed that indeed there was contravention of Liberia’s anti-corruption laws to allow the acquisition of the oil block in Liberia.
Mr. Tillerson stated that company officials were fully aware of the deal was rife with corruption but refused to stop the deal.
The former U.S. Diplomat, comments were contained in an new investigation into the oil deal transmitted to the Independent Probe by international transparency organization Global Witness.
The Oil deal between Exxonmobil and a Liberian company- Broadway Consolidated/Peppercoast (BCP) was signed in 2013 despite Exxon’s concerns that the deal could violate U.S. anti-corruption laws.
The investigation by Global Witness showed that Exxon executives were aware that the oil block they purchased was partly owned by former politicians who had taken ownership of the block through illegal means.
“Exxon knew its purchase might enrich these former politicians. The company also knew the oil block had originally been awarded to BCP after Liberia’s oil agency paid bribes,” the investigation review.
In conclusion the investigation narrates that regardless of the visibility of corruption during the concluding process of the oil deal yet both Officials of Exxonmobil and senior government officials when ahead to sign the muti-million dollars oil deal for block 13.
“Despite these corruption red flags, Exxon didn’t walk away from the deal. Instead, it engineered a plan to skirt U.S. legal exposure, using the Calgary-based Canadian Overseas Petroleum as a go-between to purchase the block,” the report continues.
