The Nigerian government says it is studying a United Kingdom commercial 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 June 14, 2022 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 judgement 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 weekly Federal Executive Council Chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the , Presidential, Villa, Abuja 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 $1.1 billion.
Meanwhile, the Council has approved the enactment of the Federal Fire and Rescue Service Establishment Act 2022.
Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, said this while addressing correspondents on resolutions reached at this week’s meeting.
He said the new proposed law is meant to replace the old law establishing the Fire Service, which has been in existence for 60 years.
The Malabu Oil deal has been a matter of great controversy between the Federal Government and a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dan Etete, over allegations of Fraud, abuse of Office and depriving Nigeria of much needed Revenue.
