On July 31, 2020, the UK Serious Fraud Office announced that it had secured confiscation orders against convicted money launderers Osman Shahenshah and Shahid Ullah, the former Chief executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer, respectively, of Afren Plc, an oil and gas exploration and production company headquartered in London.
Shahenshah and Ullah were convicted of fraud and money laundering, and sentenced to five and six-year prison terms in October 2018 in relation to what the SFO has described as a “side deal with one of Afren’s Nigerian oil partners whereby 15% of Afren’s payment to the company would be paid out to a Bermudan shell company controlled by Shahenshah and Ullah.” According to the SFO, the two men used the funds to purchase “luxury properties in Mustique and the British Virgin Islands.”
The confiscation orders require Shahenshah to pay £2,935,000, and Ullah to pay £2,515,000 (together approximately $7.1).