The Norwegian Nigeria Scam - Horten
Aftenposten.no reproted 29 July 2010 that the Defense Logistics Organization (FLO) had finalized the sale of a total of seven vessels. KNM Horten is sold ribbed for military equipment, while the six MTBs will be fully operational with all weapon systems if trade with Egypt goes into box. The price was NOK 200-210 million.
KNM Horten was not classified as defense or multipurpose material under the Export Control Rules. The vessel is therefore sold according to the same regulations as any other civilian vessel of the same size and class.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided January 23, 2011 not to grant an export licence for the former Norwegian support vessel KNM Horten. “The basis on which a licence was to be granted has changed. KNM Horten was sold to Clear Ocean on the basis of information provided by the company at the time. The company originally stated that the vessel would be used exclusively for civilian purposes. Since then it has given the Ministry of Foreign Affairs new information. The company now plans to arm the vessel so that it can provide security services off the coast of Somalia, which requires an export licence. The matter has been dealt with in close consultation with the Ministry of Defence. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasises that the Norwegian authorities have had no connection with any dealings between Clear Ocean and the Somali authorities at any time. The Ministry conveyed this both to the company and to the Government of Somalia.
The former Norwegian warship KNM "Horten" arrived in Lagos, Nigeria 12 December 2014 after 16 days of sailing from British Ramsgate southwest of London. She is likely to be the seventh and largest Norwegian navy vessel included in the warlord government 'Tompolo' Ekpemupolo's paramilitary company Global West Vessel Specialist. The ship had been arrested in England since 12 March due to irregularities and inadequate registration when the Armed Forces sold it to the British company CAS Global. Then Dagbladet revelations were around the so-called "Nigeria Boats", which connects sales to the warrior Tompolo and paramilitary in West Africa.
Neither the Armed Forces nor the Ministry of Defense attempted to raise the sale or demand the ship back to Norway. Neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has submitted any formal requirement to the British authorities to keep the ship back. The British released the ship on 16 October, and allowed the sail to Nigeria, after the owners managed to get it flagged in the West African country of Togo.
The ships were sold on the paper to the British company CAS Global, as opposed to the Armed Forces and the UD, for the ships to be registered in the UK and sail under British flag and jurisdiction, with European crew. The guarantees should be an insurance against breach of export legislation, which in practice prohibits the export of military or military equipment in conflict areas, or to individuals who could force the ships and use them for paramilitary activities.
Dagbladet revealed that CAS Global had violated all the terms and, in practice, was a purely straw company for the Nigerian warlord Tompolo. He was one of West Africa's most notorious militant leaders. Before he received amnesty in 2009, he was commander of the MEND rebel group, who faces countless bloody hijackings, kidnappings, robbery and sabotage against Western oil companies and the offshore industry in the Niger Delta.
Norwegian Defense Chief Haakon Bruun-Hansen admitted on 30 April 2015 that military officials had done a poor job of selling several surplus vessels in 2012 and 2013, and he apologized for that at a parliamentary inquiry. The vessels wound up under the control of paramilitary forces in Nigeria, and a former military employee has been charged with corruption. “The fact that the vessels have landed in Nigeria under Nigerian flag reflects a breakdown in our systems, and I apologize for that,” Bruun-Hansen said during a hearing before the Parliament’s disciplinary committee. He was not defense chief at the time of the sales, but took responsibility for what’s become a military scandal that extended into his tenure.
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