By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Norwegian police on Monday said they have filed charges against an oil firm and two executives in Norway over their involvement in alleged payment of millions of dollars in bribes to close family members of Congo Republic President Denis Sassou Nguesso.
According to Norwegian police, investigation was launched after Monaco police sought legal assistance related to a suspicious bank transaction.
“The bribes… are linked to the President of Congo and his close family members, and the value of the bribes is particularly high,” the National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime said in a statement.
The accused company, Hemla Africa Holding AS, is a fully owned indirect subsidiary of Oslo-listed oil group PetroNor and controls a 20% stake in the offshore PNGF Sud licence via Hemla E&P Congo.
PetroNor said in a statement it categorically contested the indictment and welcomed the opportunity to have the case charged before a court. The company’s share price fell 9.3% by 1153 GMT on Monday.
MGI International, which was controlled by the President’s family, was given a 25% stake in Hemla E&P Congo, and MGI received dividends of close to $25 million between 2018 and 2024, Reuters quoted indictment report as saying.
Investigators said other payments took place in parallel with the application for the oil licence in Congo.
Norway did not have jurisdiction over the individuals who received the payments and no consideration had been made of any criminal liability on their part, the police said.
The PNGF Sud licence lies in shallow waters about 25 km off the coast, and encompasses several producing fields.
It is operated by Perenco, an independent Anglo-French oil company.
Sassou first came to power in 1979 and ruled until he lost Congo’s first multi-party elections in 1992, before returning to office in 1997 after a civil war.
