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Two former top executives of energy firm, Afren, were on Wednesday convicted after they were found guilty of money laundering offences in the United Kingdom.

Osman Shahenshah and Shahid Ullah were found guilty of fraud and money laundering offences from which prosecutors said they personally received more than $17 million in a case involving Oriental Energy, founded by Nigerian billionaire oil magnate Muhammadu Indimi.

Prosecutors said Mr Shahenshah, 55, the former chief executive of Afren and Mr Ullah, 58, the oil company’s Texas-based former chief operating officer, laundered $45 million by deceiving the Afren Board into agreeing a $300 million business deal.

Following a shareholder revolt which objected to their £6.6 million and £3.8 million salary packages and faced with the possibility of lower remuneration in future, the two hatched a fraudulent scheme to secretly increase their pay

Details seen by PREMIUM TIMES from the U.K Serious Fraud Office (SFO) showed that Messrs Shahenshah and Ullah created a side deal with one of Afren’s Nigerian oil partners, Oriental Energy, that would allow them to benefit from payments Afren would make.

The men recommended a transaction to the Afren Board, who then approved payments of hundreds of millions of dollars without knowing that Messrs Shahenshah and Ullah stood to personally benefit. The transaction was claimed to be necessary to maintain the business partnership, but the fact that Messrs Shahenshah and Ullah stood to benefit personally remained hidden.

In his comments, Lisa Osofsky, Director of the Serious Fraud Office, said greed motivated the crime.

“Osman Shahenshah and Shahid Ullah failed in their duties as company directors, abused their positionsand lied to their board,” he said.

“Instead of acting in their company’s best interests, they used Afren like a personal bank account to fund an illicit deal, with no regard for the consequences.

“Fraud corrodes confidence, undermines trust and damages the reputation of the UK at home and abroad. It is our mission to bring those committing this crime to justice.”