Afren criminal trial lays banking weaknesses bare

A string of due-diligence shortcomings enabled the international fraud that sapped investor confidence in once-booming London-listed oil firm Afren – and has also now led to jail time for its two top executives. What lessons can the banking industry learn from the failings laid bare in the court proceedings?

Osman Shahenshah, former CEO of Afren

In this story

• Avenues to greater wealth

• The search for a bank begins

• ‘Constantly thinking, strategizing, contemplating’

• Accessing international finance

• Four institutions duped

• A buyout overshadowed

• Seeing through the lies

Sourcing illicit funds is one thing, laundering them is quite another. That is what Osman Shahenshah and Shahid Ullah, the then chief executive and chief operating officer of the booming oil firm Afren, found out in October 2013.

By then, the two men had secured the promise of payments totalling $45 million from a Nigerian oil mogul, to be shared between them and others through an offshore company created for that purpose.

Afren criminal trial lays banking weaknesses bare

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Afren criminal trial lays banking weaknesses bare

Thanks for your interest in Euromoney!To unlock this article:

How banks can make cybersecurity a revenue generator

Awards for Excellence Middle East and Islamic Finance winners celebrate in Dubai

Regulators should be upfront with taxpayers – and admit all deposits are guaranteed

The FX Files: Is it the end of the line for single-dealer platforms?

Thanks for your interest in Euromoney!
To unlock this article: