US trial offers insight into Nigerian arms trade

Arms dealers and the corruption-riddled Nigerian Government are locking horns in a California courtroom over a $246m order for weapons and equipment, including helicopters, bombs and ammunition. US weapons contractor Hima Aboubakar has sued arms dealer Ara Dolarian for fraud. Aboubakar, a national of Niger, claims the US arms dealer failed to ship $8.6m worth of bombs and rockets, damaging his reputation as ‘a trusted arms supplier to the Nigerian military’. A report on the News24 site notes that Dolarian alleges that he was unwittingly caught up in a ‘money laundering scheme’ and that Aboubakar's arms money was ‘stolen from the Nigerian government’. Transparency International described corruption in the defence procurement sector as ‘the new diesel for Nigeria's kleptocrats’. The court battle 12 500km from Abuja offers a rare glimpse into the shadowy world of the arms trade. It could also shed light on how an alleged multibillion-dollar fraud in the office of former national security adviser Sambo Dasuki might have taken place, according to the report. It notes that Pieter Wezeman, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said Dolarian's deal with Aboubakar and his company Societe d'Equipments Internationaux (SEI) ‘rings alarm bells’. Court documents show SEI signed off on the purchase of six Mi-24 and Mi-35 helicopters from Dolarian for $25m each, which Wezeman said was far above their normal value of $5m each. The trial continues.