Mambilla Scandal: Tribunal questions Adesanya’s $500,000 payment to Atiku’s ex-wife

A three-member International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) tribunal has rejected Leno Adesanya’s explanation for a $500,000 payment made in 2003 to Jennifer Douglas, the former wife of ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, after finding that the evidence presented in arbitration did not substantiate his claim that the money was simply part of a foreign-exchange transaction.

The finding formed part of the tribunal’s final award, which rejected Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited’s claims against Nigeria over the long-running Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project dispute.

The ruling, issued on September 17, 2026, also ordered Sunrise and Adesanya to reimburse Nigeria 75 per cent of its legal expenses, amounting to about $11.82 million.

The $500,000 transfer

According to the award, Adesanya acknowledged transferring $500,000 on January 30, 2003, through China Castle Investments Limited, an offshore company he controlled, into Douglas’s Citibank account in the United States.

Nigeria had argued that the payment was connected to efforts to secure the disputed Mambilla contract for Sunrise.

Adesanya denied the allegation, telling the tribunal that he had operated a bureau de change business through Moneyline Ventures Limited and that the dollars represented foreign currency purchased with naira on behalf of Atiku.

In his witness statement, Adesanya said he made the transfer “to the Abubakars through my company China Castle Investments Ltd in early 2003.”

But the tribunal found significant gaps in the explanation.

It noted that Adesanya produced no documentary evidence showing the underlying naira payment, exchange rate, instructions from Atiku or his aides, correspondence relating to the transaction or documentation establishing its commercial purpose.

Adesanya said the arrangements had been discussed orally and that, more than two decades later, he no longer possessed written records.

Tribunal questions evidence

The tribunal was also told that neither Atiku nor Douglas testified in the proceedings or supplied witness statements supporting Adesanya’s account.

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Adesanya said he had attempted to obtain Atiku’s testimony but that the former vice-president was reluctant to become involved in proceedings connected to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

His account of how Atiku’s alleged confirmation reached him also shifted during questioning. Adesanya initially suggested that Atiku’s lawyers had confirmed the transaction was a foreign-exchange deal. Under cross-examination, however, he said the information had first been relayed by a person he identified as “Dr Ndukwe,” Atiku’s doctor, and later confirmed through lawyers.

Pressed on whether the information actually came from Atiku, Adesanya described that as his “logical assumption”.

The tribunal noted that he provided no correspondence, telephone records or other documentary evidence supporting those communications.

His explanation for why Douglas could not corroborate the transaction was also scrutinised. Adesanya said she had fallen out with Atiku during their divorce and would no longer answer his calls.

The tribunal observed that this appeared inconsistent with an earlier witness statement in which Adesanya described Douglas as a close friend and said they had remained friends.

Timing intensified scrutiny

The payment attracted particular attention because of its proximity to the Mambilla procurement process.

Sunrise and its Chinese partner had been pursuing the project since 2001. Atiku participated in meetings concerning the proposed development and led a Nigerian government delegation to China in July 2002, where agreements covering power projects, including the first phase of Mambilla, were signed.

On January 15 or 16, 2003, Sunrise presented its tender to a multi-agency technical committee.

Two weeks later, on January 30, China Castle transferred the $500,000 to Douglas.

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On March 12, the technical committee recommended Sunrise for the project, citing factors including cost effectiveness and its capacity to execute the scheme.

The sequence became a central feature of Nigeria’s argument that the payment warranted scrutiny.

However, the tribunal’s rejection of Adesanya’s explanation did not amount to a finding that Atiku personally ordered or received the $500,000. Atiku was not a party to the arbitration and did not testify.

The tribunal instead assessed the credibility and evidentiary foundation of Adesanya’s explanation within the arbitration.

Licence question adds another complication

The tribunal also examined Adesanya’s claim that the transaction arose from legitimate foreign-exchange activity.

He failed to produce evidence establishing that Moneyline Ventures held a valid bureau de change licence at the relevant time.

More importantly, the tribunal noted that the actual transfer was made by China Castle, rather than Moneyline.

Adesanya acknowledged under cross-examination that China Castle was not licensed to conduct foreign-exchange transactions and that such activity was not among its stated corporate purposes.

The tribunal therefore found that even proof of a Moneyline licence would not have resolved the central questions surrounding the payment.

Mambilla claim collapses

The $500,000 controversy emerged within a much larger dispute over whether Sunrise ever obtained a valid government contract to develop Mambilla.

Sunrise eventually pursued a claim of about $2.35 billion against Nigeria, alleging breach of a 2003 agreement. A later settlement dispute generated another claim for $400 million.

The ICC tribunal rejected the claims and also ruled that Adesanya was bound by the arbitration agreement.

Nigeria’s legal expenses were assessed at $11,819,506.51, with Sunrise and Adesanya ordered to reimburse 75 per cent. Of that amount, $2.5 million is to come from funds held in ICC escrow, while the remaining $9.32 million, plus 10 percent annual compounded interest, is payable by Sunrise and Adesanya.