The federal government has said it is studying a United Kingdom commercial court judgement which rules 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, June 14, 2022, ruled on the matter in Case No CL-2017-000730 as contained in its 137-paged judgement.
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The federal government in the judgement lost $1.7 billion in claims against JP Morgan Chase Bank over the transfer of proceeds from the sale of OPL 245 in 2011
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, while fielding questions from State House reporters after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, said the 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 $1.1bn.
Mohammed said: “I also read the judgement. Malabu oil and I think, strangely enough, the judge said we were not able to establish that we lost $1.7bn.
“But I also read further that the lawyer said that they are studying the judgement and they will take the appropriate step on whether to appeal or not.”
