Soma Oil & Gas Requests Meeting With UN Over Somalia Allegations

Soma Oil & Gas Holdings Ltd., the U.K.-based explorer chaired by former Conservative Party leader Michael Howard, requested a meeting with the United Nations to discuss allegations about its dealings in Somalia.

The company asked for talks with UN Security Council Committee Chairman Rafael Dario Ramirez Carreno in a letter published on its website that expressed concern about the UN Monitoring Group’s “fundamental misunderstanding of the oil and gas industry.”

Soma also wants to make clear “the necessity for and positive impact of our capacity building arrangement with the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources” in Somalia, it said.

The U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office announced on July 31 it’s probing London-based Soma, along with Soma Oil & Gas Exploration Ltd., Soma Management Ltd. and others in “relation to allegations of corruption in Somalia.” Soma denied the allegations and is cooperating with the investigation.

SOURCE: BloombergBusiness