In realising this vision, the company will seek to maximise value for its stakeholders sustainably, by operating with integrity and leveraging local resources – to the benefit of the countries and communities in which they LEKOIL was founded in 2010 by Olalekan ("Lekan") Akinyanmi, a native Nigerian and former analyst for Alliance Bernstein, and a group of professionals from the finance and oil industry.

[7] In May 2014, LEKOIL acquired a 40% interest in the Otakikpo Marginal Field on the onshore Nigerian OML11 licence from Green Energy International and raise £22m to fund its development.

[citation needed] LEKOIL said it paid US$600,000 to Seawave Invest Limited as “introducer to those purporting to be the QIA and lead adviser to the company in relation to the facility agreement”.

Greg Eckersley, a board member, who previously worked at the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund overseeing due diligence, who had been acting as the Interim CFO left the firm.

[22] It was also disclosed that as part of the transaction, Lekan Akinyanmi, LEKOIL's founder and CEO, would have a US$1.7m company loan written off and receive a new bonus plan.

[23] Media comment questioned how the company and its professional advisers who included Strand Hanson, Mirabaud Securities and Numis could be taken in by the fraud.

It was noted that Seawave Invest's website raised many red flags including numerous spelling mistakes, no named people and appeared to have large areas copied.