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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government, yesterday, said it was studying a United Kingdom court judgement that ruled that there is no evidence of fraud in the OPL 245 transaction between Nigeria and JP Morgan Chase Bank.
The Commercial Court of England and Wales on Tuesday ruled on the matter in Case No CL-2017-000730 as contained in its 137-paged judgement.
An Italian court in 2021 also dismissed all corruption charges in the OPL 245 deal, discharging and acquitting all the defendants.
The Nigerian government in the judgment lost $1.7 billion claims against JP Morgan Chase Bank over the transfer of proceeds from the sale of OPL 245 in 2011
Minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, while responding to questions from State House Correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja said government’s lawyers will study the ruling and decide whether to appeal or not.
The Nigerian government had contended that the contract awarded to former Petroleum Minister, Dan Etete, to explore the deep waters off the Gulf of Guinea was corrupt alleging that the bank “ought to have known” that there was corruption and fraud in the transaction which saw Malabu sell its 100 per cent in OPL 245 to Shell and ENI for $1.1 billion.
Lawyers to the Nigerian government alleged that the bank ignored “glaring” red flags, including “overwhelming” evidence of fraud and stark warnings from its own compliance staff when it authorised the payments.
Meanwhile, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, has described the ruling that there is no evidence of fraud in the OPL 245 transaction between Nigeria and JP Morgan Chase Bank as vindication.
Reacting in a statement, he said though he was not expecting a contrary judgment knowing well that he did no wrong while serving Nigeria, the ruling by foreign courts would now put to rest baseless allegations levelled against him on the OPL 245 deal.
Adoke lamented that although, he was not a party in the suit, the Federal Government through the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, caused all manner of false depositions to be made against him to paint the transaction with the tar of corruption, in an attempt to justify the spurious criminal proceedings instituted against him in Nigeria.
“I am particularly pleased with the outcome of the suit because if it were to be Nigerian courts, I would have been accused of buying justice by my traducers, who are hell-bent on tarnishing my name and destroying me for political reasons,” he added.
Adoke recalled that OPL 245 was awarded to Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd in 1998 by the military government of Gen Sani Abacha.
The statement by Adoke explained that the contract was revoked by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2001, following which Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd went to court to challenge the action.
The former minister noted that “in 2006, the administration of President Obasanjo opted for an Out-of-Court Settlement and returned OPL 245 to Malabu 100 per cent. This was the state of affairs when I was appointed Attorney-General and Minister of Justice by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2010.
“President Jonathan asked me, as the Chief Law Officer of the Federation, to give him legal advice on the validity and enforceability of the Out-of-Court Settlement entered by the Obasanjo Administration. After reviewing all the documents related to the oil block, I advised him that the Settlement Agreement dated 30th November 2006 had already been reduced into a subsisting Consent Judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
“My involvement in the entire OPL 245 saga was carrying out the lawful directives/approvals of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, to the effect that the Settlement Agreement was implemented.
“However, when President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in 2015, some influential figures in his government deceived him into believing that Nigeria could get back the $1.1 billion that Shell/ENI paid to Malabu for OPL 245.
