Concerns mount over $195m security contract to HSLi

…As contractor is linked to transport minister

…Allegations false, unfounded – Minister’s Aide

Joseph inokotong, Abuja

Tongues are wagging over what became of the $195 million dollars two-year Maritime Security Contract awarded to an Israeli company, HSLi Systems and Technology Ltd around October 30, 2017. The contract was for the training of the nation’s security agencies to regain full control of the waterways from pirates and people engaged in illegal bunkering. The agreement also consists of the supply of three helicopters, three aircrafts, three big battle-ready ships, 12 vessels, and 20 amphibious cars to obviate the necessity for safekeeping and escort of ships and vessels crossing Nigeria’s waterways. The contract was approved by the Federal Executive Council on October 2017. However, up till now, nothing has become of the contract except allegations and denials of an upfront payment of the sum of $50 million in the name of mobilisation under the nose of the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi. Another curious aspect of the scandal is the allegation that the beneficiary of the contract and the $50m mobilisation is a staunch supporter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari, the reason according to our sources why he has not been arrested or asked to refund the money. Speaking at the International World Maritime Day in 2017, the Minister of Transport, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, confirmed existence of the contract but did not disclose full identity of the implementing company (HLSi), the exact equipment to be supplied, and how the Navy, which is responsible for securing Nigeria’s waterways, would participate. According to investigations, $50 million was already paid to HLSi in advance, but the extent of implementation of the contract has remained hazy up till now. There is also unconfirmed allegation that the advance payment to HLSI has been diverted to finance President Buhari’s election campaign which the minister has denied through an aide who pleaded not to be mentioned because he was not authorised to speak on the matter. He, however, described the allegations as “concoctions of deranged individuals from the pit of hell”. The president recently emphasised that he will not use public funds on his re-election campaigns. However, investigations on HSLi showed that it is owned by Israeli-based Mitrelli Group and part of Mitrelli’s security branch, and was initially known as the LR Group, established in 1985 by three Israeli Air Force pilots who became billionaires due to a lengthy list of deals in Angola and other countries around the world. LR Group was contracted in Rivers State on March 2012, by Amaechi, then governor of the state, to handle approved Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA) jobs on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis to develop a $140 million dollars 3,000-hectare farm settlement in Etche. The PPP is yet to see the light of the day up till now. Consequently, on October 2015, a Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up to investigate the sale of state assets in Rivers State during Amaechi’s tenure recommended the prosecution of Amaechi and some others over alleged misappropriation of over N97 billion in the alleged sale of the state assets. On the other hand, some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) equally petitioned the Speaker of the House of Representatives regarding the HLSi deal. The petition, signed by ten CSOs and dated November 14, 2017, was entitled the ‘Petition on the Ceding of Nigerian Coastal Waterways to HLSi Security Firms and Technologies and Commercialization of the Nigerian Navy to Shorefac Consortium Ltd. They insisted the contract would negatively affect Nigeria’s sovereignty. On December 8, 2017, the House Committee on Public Petitions, Hon. Uzoma Abonta, started inquiries involving the Navy, Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Federal Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of Defence, and other stakeholders by his committee. Amaechi, and the Director-General of NIMASA, Dakuku Peterside, were present at some of the public hearings, at the end of which the House concluded that the contract violated appropriation laws, adding that HLSi was not a registered company in Israel. On January 2018, the leadership of the Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) disagreed on the viability of the $195 million maritime security contract awarded to HLSi. President of SOAN, Engr. Greg Ogbeifun, stated that the maritime security contract signed with HSLI goes against the nation’s local content policy. Curiously, sometime in May last year, President Buhari terminated the $195 million security contract without taking any further action on the fraud associated with the contract or monies paid to the blacklisted contractor. In a memo dispatched by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, he directed the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN), to terminate the contract. The President also ordered the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) to investigate how the contractor obtained security clearance for the job without an end-user certificate. Calls put through to Amaechi were not picked at the time of this report. His Special Assistant (Media Matters), Mr. Eddy Iyofor, who accepted to get in touch with the minister on these allegations and get back to our reporter before press time, failed to keep to his word. He said: “Editor, you should have called the minister by yourself. However, I will call him and get feedback on the issues in a short while”. However, another SA to the Minister who prefers anonymity said the Minister was only being blackmailed because he is the Director-general of the APC Presidential Campaign Council. “These are antics of people from the pit of hell. They are even making references to what happened when he (Amaechi) was governor so as to blackmail him. Those things are untrue. You can take it to the bank from me,” he stated.