OPL 245: I was pressured to implicate Adoke – Russian suspect

Ednan Tofik ogly Agaev, former Russian ambassador to Colombia who is charged with international corruption over the OPL 245 affair, says he was pressured to mention a name in his interrogation by the FBI.

In the FBI interview, he named Mohammed Bello Adoke, former attorney-general of the federation, as one of the recipients of the $400 million bribes allegedly paid to government officials in the deal.

However, when the FBI statement was read to him in a Milanese court on Wednesday and he was asked to adopt it as part of his defence, Agaev declined.

He told the court he was under pressure to mention a name during the interview and he mentioned Adoke, adding that he didn’t mean for the interview to be used against him in court.

Adoke has vehemently denied taking any bribes in the deal which was concluded in 2011 under his watch as Nigeria’s chief law officer.

However, he has been charged to court for money laundering in an Abuja court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly receiving $2.2 million bribe in the OPL 245 deal.

He has denied the charging, maintaining out that a failed mortgage transaction of 2013 was being twisted by the anti-graft agency to victimise him

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