Former NNPCL GM found guilty of taking $2.1M bribe from a Swiss oil company by U.S court.

Former NNPCL GM found guilty of taking $2.1M bribe from a Swiss oil company by U.S court.

A U.S. District Court in California has scheduled December 1, 2025, for the sentencing of Paulinus Iheanacho Okoronkwo, a former General Manager of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), who was found guilty of taking a $2.1 million bribe from a Swiss oil firm.

Okoronkwo, 58, was indicted in January 2024 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California. He faced multiple charges, including three counts of unlawful monetary transactions, one count of tax evasion, and one count of obstruction of justice.

According to prosecutors, the former NNPCL official received $2,105,263 in October 2015 from Addax Petroleum, a Swiss subsidiary of Chinese energy giant Sinopec. 

The payment was routed through his Los Angeles law firm and disguised as consultancy fees. The U.S. Department of Justice described it as a bribe aimed at securing favorable drilling rights in Nigeria.