Soon after, the new government wanted a piece of the action, according to Etete.

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In his deposition Etete claims to have taped conversations between agents of the vice president and Shell discussing such deals.

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Etete alleges that Shell wooed the vice president with oil services contracts for a company he reportedly has a stake in, Intels.

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In depositions Etete claims he has taped conversations of meetings he had with Abubakar's middlemen, discussing the payment of bribes to Abubakar, President Obasanjo and Shell managing director Ron van den Berg.

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Addax explained to Dan Etete, then Nigeria's oil minister, that killing a contract with a U.S. company would be lousy p.r. and persuaded him to let Gandur negotiate with Ashland for the assets.

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"It's all speculation, " says Boham, of Etete's charges.

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In a written deposition to Nigeria's House Committee on petroleum resources, which is investigating the charges, Etete claims to have dined in August 2000 with Vice President Atiku Abubakar who, Etete says, demanded a stake as a condition for not revoking the license.

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How credible is Etete?

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Early that year Abacha's petroleum minister, Dauzia Loya Etete, awarded himself a license to develop OPL 245 and set up Malabu as the license holder. (Though technically not an owner, Etete is widely believed to control Malabu.) After Abacha's dictatorship collapsed, the civilian administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo set up a panel to review oil licenses and revoked a number of them.

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