The kindly contributor of this letter teased another letter out of them, continuing a risky trend of toying with these guys. The two letters follow.

From: "Chris Okonkwo"
To: (kindly contributor)
Subject: Urgent Business Relationship
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 02:22:11 GMT

Dr. Chris Okonkwo,
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
Central Business District,
Herbert Macaulay Way
Abuja, Nigeria.

Dear (kindly contributor)
The President/CEO,
REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE-STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL;

I am Dr. Chris Okonkwo, a top management staff in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and I head a seven-man tenders board in charge of Contract Awards and Payments Approvals. I came to know of you in my search for a reliable and reputable person to handle a very confidential transaction that involves the transfer of a huge sum of money to a foreign account. There were series of contracts executed by a consortium Multinationals in the oil industry in favor of NNPC among which were:

(1) The expansion of the pipeline network within Nigeria for Crude Oil and downstream product distribution and subsequent evacuation.
(2) Contract for the Turn around maintenance (TAM) of the various Refineries in the Country.
(3) The construction of storage tanks for Petroleum products (P.M.S AND A.G.O Depots).

The original value of these contracts were deliberately over invoiced to the sum of US$ FORTY ONE MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS (US$41.5M) which has now been approved and is now ready to be transferred being that the Companies that actually executed these contracts have been paid and the projects officially commissioned.

Consequently, my colleagues and I are willing to transfer the total amount to your account for subsequent disbursement, since we civil servants are prohibited by the Code of Conduct Bureau (Civil Service Laws) from opening and/ or operating foreign accounts in our names. Needless to say, the trust reposed on you at this juncture is enormous. In return, we have agreed to offer you 20% of the transferred sum, while 10% shall be set aside for incidental expenses (internal and external) between the parties in the course of the transaction. You will be mandated to remit the balance 70% to other accounts in due course.

You must however NOTE that this transaction is subject to the following terms and conditions:
(a) Our conviction of your transparent honesty and diligence.
(b) That you would treat this transaction with utmost secrecy and confidentiality.
(c) That the funds would be transferred to an interest bearing account where the incidence of taxation would not exert a heavy toll.

[ those darned taxes... a thief can't make an honest living any more...]

Furthermore, Modalities have been worked out at the highest levels of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria for the immediate transfer of the funds within 10 working days subject to your satisfaction of the above stated terms. Our assurance is that your role is risk free.

To accord this transaction the legality it deserves and for mutual security of the fund, the whole approval procedures will be officially and legally processed with the name of any Company you may nominate as the Bona-fide beneficiary. Once more, I want you to understand that having put in over 26 years in the service of my country, I am averse to having my image and career dented. This matter should therefore be treated with utmost secrecy and urgency. Kindly expedite action as we are behind schedule to enable us include this transfer in the first batch of this quarter payment. Please acknowledge the receipt of this message via my direct Tel/Fax number: 234-90-403832 only.

Thank you and God less      [indeed]
Yours faithfully
Dr. Chris Okonkwo,

The kindly contributor responded and this is what they said next:

We acknowledge first and foremost with thanks, receipt of your message. Our anxiety has been allayed. We have deliberated over your acceptance. I hereby convey the approval of my colleagues that I continue discussions with you on this mutually beneficial project.

For purpose of clarity, my committee is vested with the authority to appraise and approve contracts according to the priority of the Government of the Federal government of Nigeria. By virtue of our positions we have overtime been able to uncover several over-invoiced/over estimated contracts. And through careful manipulation of these documents, secured for ourselves the sum of US$41.5M (FORTY ONE MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND, UNITED STATE DOLLARS). Only which we need your assistance to transfer into a safe offshore account

We need your assistance as the funds is secured in an escrow account of the Federal Government specifically set aside for the settlement of outstanding payments to Foreign contractor. We are handicapped in the circumstances, as the Civil Service Code of Conduct dose not allow us to operate offshore accounts hence your importance in the whole transaction. Therefore, we want to utilize this opportunity as a lot of foreign contractors will be paid in this quarter of this year 2000 to transfer the funds out of the country.

Consequently, we want you to present you/your company as the beneficiary of the sum US$41.5million. for this purpose we will incorporate your company and register you as a contractor with the Nigerian National PetroleumCorporation (NNPC). We will also by virtue of our official positions secure for your company the necessary backup documentation that will facilitate the release/transfer of the funds into your account. These documents of course will be destroyed at the successful completion of the transfer. We want to assure you that your help will not in any way bring you or your company into disrepute.

In line with our wish to present this claim legally, attached is a text specimen, which you are to transcribe onto your company letter headed paper and fax back to us. Please ensure that both telephone and fax numbersprovided by you for this mutually beneficial transaction are confidential. Theinformation on the form will enable us initiate preliminary application and payment process at the NNPC, Debt Reconciliation Committee, Federal Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria for the immediate release/transfer of the funds.

My colleagues and I would require your personal guarantee concerning the safety availability of our share on demand when the funds is credited to your account via telegraphic wire remittance. We also need you to advice/give us information regarding likely investments in your Country. Note that if you follow our instructions regularly, we can conclude this transaction within the next 10-14 working days.

Please endeavor to observe the required level of confidentiality as we are still in active Government service. I will appreciate you call me for more elaborate discussion and for further instructions as our international dialing access has to be done through the General Communication Room in the secretariat complex, and is not confidential enough for our purpose, since it is an open line. Therefore, I will always expect your prompt response on my very confidential number 234 223 14630.

Its advisable that you call me tomorrow about the same time you sent me fax (which is about 10.00am-11.00am my time) so that we can get intimated and further furnish me with your confidential tel and fax numbers for the purpose of this transaction.

Please treat as urgent.
Best regards.
Dr. Chris Okonkwo

NB: My colleague just informed me that for transaction of this kind, it is always preferable to use encrypted transmissions for both your security and ours.
[we think so too]
Please utilize our encrypted email, auto63492@hushmail.com. You will need to establish your own account at http://www.hushmail.com to establish encrypted communications. You may do this easily at the mentioned domain and incur no cost to you.

[an elaborate scheme to sign up people at hushmail? just kidding, heh heh...]

As soon as this is done at your end, endeavour to send me details of your hushmail address for further correspondence. Please note, I have prepared a detailed explanation of the entire transaction which I will send to your hushmail account as soon as you confirm your new hushmail account. Note: confirm your confidential telephone and fax number to my hushmail account

   To:
   The Group Managing Director
   Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
   Central Business District,
   Herbert Macaulay Way
   Abuja, Nigeria.
   
   Attn:	Dr I. T. Obaseki.
   
   Dear Sir,
   RE: CONTRACT NUMBER-NP/PED/9753/PH-REF31C/99.
   SUPPLY COMMISSIONING OF 2,320 UNIT Y2K PERSONAL COMPUTER, 
   602 PRINTERS, 10 PLOTTERS AND ACCESSORIES FOR PORT HARCOURT REFINERY AND COMPUTER OPTIMIZATION FOR PLANTS A TO D AT PORT HARCOURT REFINERY.
   
   We refer to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation circular
    number FGN/CBN/FMP/NNPC/017/02/2000 of February 18, 2000 and 
article 35 of the contract award schemes to all foreign contractors. 
   
We take liberty to inform you that the settlement of the above stated

completed contract fell due since November 4th, 1999. By your delay 
we have not been able to meet our obligation to our bankers and 
creditors who financed the above referred project. In accordance with
 the aforementioned articles and all relevant amendments thereto, we
 
hereby   apply for your settlement of the contract being Forty one
million Five hundred  thousand united states dollars only. This 
represents payment due and payable  to us on NNPC contract number
 NP/PED/9753/PH-REF31C/99.
   
 I . President/CEO of  . Hereby confirm that your Corporation the 
 
  Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is yet to remit our total
  
outstanding   sum of Forty one million, Five hundred thousand United 
States dollars only  (US$41,500,000.00).
 
Kindly remit the above total amount in full via
 telegraphic/electronic transfer  to our bankers below:
   
Bankers name: .............................................
Bankers address: ...............................................
Account no:....................................................
Beneficiary:.................................................
   
   Attached to this application letter are copies of relevant
    documents relating to this contract.
   
   We wish to expedite action on this to enable us update our records
    with  our Internal Revenue Service department and our creditors.
   
   Thanks for your anticipated co-operation.
   
   Yours Faithfully,
   Authorised signature  & stamp.
   				
   Cc: Director, Foreign Operations Department Central Bank of Nigeria.
   Cc: Director Project Department Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Abuja.
   Cc: Director Federal Ministry of Finance Nigeria.
   Cc: Managing Director Port Harcourt Refinery.

 

Do we need to tell you not to do this at home, or anywhere else?