A $10 Billion Energy Scandal Involving Senegal’s President, His Brother and BP Exposed

By Samuel Abuya

BP is set to pay almost $10 billion to a businessman who is involved in a suspicious energy deal in Senegal in what has widely been termed as “the $10 billion energy scandal”.

The energy giant company bought out Frank Timis’ stake in a gas field off the coast of Senegal for $250 million in 2017 plus 40 years’ royalties that have left many shocked.

The genesis of the scandal can be traced back to 2011 when Senegal was awarding two offshore exploration deals for oil and gas in which a major oil company wanted to do the drilling but was denied and instead a little-known company, Petro-Tim which is owned by Timis Corporation, was awarded the deal in spite of the fact that it had no experience on matters oil and gas explorations.

By then, according to a BBC expose on this scandal, Petro-Tim was operating on an apartment block. The man behind Petro-Tim, Frank Timis, was highly involved in a series of failed mining ventures in West Africa but was awarded the deal anyway. Timis, a man who calls himself the “godfather of West Africa”, is accused of bribing politicians and shooting miners.

Apart from being accused of tax evasion, at some point in the United Kingdom, Timis allegedly finances his luxury life abroad thanks to proceeds of corrupt dealings offshore.

When Macky Sall was elected the president of Senegal, a majority of the country’s population was very optimistic that he will fight corruption, an agenda that he pushed through his campaign and one which propelled him into power.

However, the president has now found himself in the middle of a storm courtesy of the BBC expose which has put bare his role in awarding Frank Timis the gas exploration deal thanks to his brother’s, Aliou Sall, alleged influence on him.

Macky Sall had initially ordered an investigation into Timis’ company when he was elected president.

Aliou Sall was promised to be made, an was indeed made, Petro-Tim’s country director if, and only if, he talked to his brother, the president, and help the company get the deal. On top of shares worth £3 million, Aliou was also promised, and was finally paid, a monthly salary of $25,000 for five years, translating to $1.5 million.

It should be noted that Aliou Sall had no expertise in oil and gas exploration to warrant the job.

The documents regarding this scandal had not been exposed to the public.

While speaking to BBC investigative journalist, Mamadou Lamine Diallo, an opposition MP in Senegal, said it is a “shock, shame and betrayal of unimaginable magnitude” to even think that the president who rose into power on the promise of fighting and eradicating corruption in the country would find himself again entangled in scandals.

Timis Corporation would later on team up with Kosmos Energy to carry out the exploration because by the time that Timis Cooperation was being awarded the deal; it had no money to carry out a project of that magnitude.

To extract the gas, Kosmos again joined hands with another world giant in oil and gas business, BP, which bought out Timis Corporation in spite of it being fully aware of the company’s dirty dealings back in Senegal. BP bought out Timis Corporation, a company with Frank Timis as a major shareholder, at $250 million, a deal which has been described as “the most generous in the world”.

BP also agreed to pay Timis between $9.27 billion and $12.56 billion as royalties for the next 40 years.

BP has, however, denied any wrong doing in the $10 Billion energy scandal saying it carried out its due diligence before committing itself in the deal.

In what looked like a bribe, at one point Frank Timis asked for $250,000 from BP for alleged due tax to the Senegalese government but the cash ended up in AGRITRANS SARL, a company owned by Aliou Sall. Timis, however, denies he paid the bribe, saying that was an incorrect ledger entry which was later corrected but one which has not been corrected years after.

Analysts say Senegalese people will lose a lot if the $10 Billion energy scandal between BP and Timis Cooperation will not be stopped and investigated.  

Africa Global News Publication