, said it is common for oil to be traded for arms, both legally and illegally.
“Gunvor has absolutely no knowledge of, dealings with, or records of any of the ‘mercenaries’, no connection, prior or otherwise, with the companies or entities you cite,” Pietras said. “Here is the equipment we need urgently,” wrote Aubert Zohore, an adviser to Gbagbo at the time, sharing a list that included nearly seven million rounds of ammunition, 6 000 rocket-propelled grenades and 300 smoke grenades.
A few days after Zohore’s message, Bazin sent Semlex’s chief executive, Albert Karaziwan, details to be used in an invoice back-dated to January 12 for $1.6-million, involving a company co-owned by Montoya named Caminex. UN monitors allege that Caminex is one of several companies the men used to move money. Montoya and Lafont used “a complex structure of companies based in Côte d’Ivoire, Tunisia and Latvia, which allowed them to violate consistently the sanctions regime imposed on Côte d’Ivoire”, theyIn total, the monitors estimate Montoya’s network sold Côte d’Ivoire’s government at least $16.
Lafont’s lawyer at the time, Gilbert Collard, had stated repeatedly that his client is not guilty of any crimes. In June 2008, the two companies partnered on their first known deal, to buy 630 000 barrels of crude oil from Côte d’Ivoire’s Espoir oil field, earning Semlex a $790 000 commission for arranging the purchase. Then in November, Bazin sent Semlex an invoice for €160 000 for “prospecting and procedures for your account” in Côte d’Ivoire.
“In 2009, Bazin convinced Gbagbo to accept this deal so he could collect some cash ahead of the coming elections,” the source said. In January 2011, when it was still receiving oil from Gbagbo’s regime, Gunvor also signed a separate deal to buy crude with new partners on the opposite side of the civil war: Côte d’Ivoire’s former minister of petroleum Adama Toungara and key staff at state oil company Petroci.
Strategy: If you want Oil from a weak-willed who hate themselves, manufacture conflict and give them weapons to fight against each in exchange for the oil you want. The heartlessness and wickedness is unimaginable. The gullibility and self-hate of Africans is shocking
The same story all over again