The sale of these seven Norwegian ships to GWVSL was abetted by the corruption of an official at the Norwegian Defense Logistics Organization (DLO), which handled the sales, and became the vehicle for suspected embezzlement from the Nigerian treasury. UK officials are investigating whether CAS-Global Ltd., a British firm, or its owners may be liable for conduct related to the transactions.

One month before it signed a contract for the six missile torpedo boats, CAS-Global deceptively informed Norwegian officials that: the vessels would be owned by CAS-Global; further re-sale would be subject to UK export control regulations; the vessels would be deployed primarily in an ECOWAS mission, providing a fisheries protection “package” of services; and the vessels would remain UK-flagged and therefore operate under UK jurisdiction. Likewise, the DLO passed on similar deceptive information to the Norwegian foreign ministry regarding the end-use of the KNM Horten. This deception may have been intended to ensure that Norway’s catch-all dual-use export regulations would not prevent the sale of the ships. Presumably to cover this deception, CAS-Global paid bribes totaling approximately USD 242,000 to Bjørn Stavrum, a Navy Lieutenant Commander assigned to the DLO, in three payments over the course of 2013-14.

There were many signs that the vessels would, in fact, pass to private Nigerian hands. These included: the May 2012 visit by GWVSL and NIMASA executives to inspect the six missile torpedo boats; modification work on the boats that suggested they would be operated by GWVSL; the involvement of a Nigerian bank and loan paperwork which suggested GWVSL’s involvement; and, most importantly, an alert to Norwegian customs officials from their British counterparts highlighting press reports on the potentially corrupt relationship between NIMASA and GWVSL. Since 2012, the Nigerian press had been reporting irregularities in GWVSL’s contracts with NIMASA, as well as the possibility that the former rebel leader Government Ekpemupolo (better known as Tompolo) was the beneficial owner of GWVSL. Tompolo, an ethnic Ijaw from a politically connected family in Nigeria’s Delta State, was a leader in the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC) during an inter-ethnic conflict with the neighboring Itsekiri ethnic group during the late 1990s. Between 2006 and 2009, a number of Ijaw militias formed the loosely coordinated Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which attacked and kidnapped oil workers, seeking to wrest control of the oil industry from the central government’s authority. As a MEND leader, Tompolo obtained an amnesty from the government in 2009 along with up to 26,000 other militants, ending the worst of the oil attacks. According to a Nigerian prosecutor, Tompolo subsequently benefitted from lucrative contracts obtained through his connections in government.

In ignoring the potential risks of a sale of ex-military vessels to GWVSL, Norway and the United Kingdom were downplaying the possibility that Tompolo might challenge the government again. Since disappearing in 2015 in the face of a corruption investigation, Tompolo has been suspected of returning to militant ways. Attacks against oil workers in the Delta have continued under the leadership of a new coalition, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA). Certain NDA factions have claimed—without evidence—that Tompolo has supported their activities. In September 2016, Tompolo’s 84-year-old father was killed in a government raid in the delta city of Warri, prompting the militant-in-hiding to threaten revenge against the military.