His father, George Calil (Kano), founded a ground oil empire and the Nigerian Oil Mills (NOM) which was later managed by Ely"s younger brother Bernard Calil. After his father"s death in 1970 the wealth was bequeathed to Ely and his brother Bernard.
He is one of the richest men in Britain. The Sunday Times Magazine estimated his wealth in 2010 to be around £350 million. Ely Calil"s source of wealth was inheritance.
Later on Ely expanded his wealth in property and finance.
He successfully negotiated a number of oil mining deals in Nigeria in the 1980s. In 2004 Calil was alleged to be the mastermind and one of the financiers in the projected coup d"état in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.
He is currently sought by courts both in Equatorial Guinea and South Africa. He strongly denies all allegations.
Calil was generally believed to be the character nicknamed Smelly in the prison notes of Simon Mann, the leading mercenary of the planned coup-d"etat.
When Mann was released in 2009, it was revealed he had made statements implicating others only after days of torture. Calil has never been interviewed by any police force. In 2002, Calil was arrested in Paris in connection with the Elf Aquitaine scandal which reached into the heart of French government.
He denied taking bribery of £40 million and was released without any charges.
