The Nigerian
government’s $1 billion lawsuit against oil giants; Royal Dutch Shell and Eni,
has been dismissed by a UK court on grounds of lacking the jurisdiction to hear
the case centred on the Malabu oil deal of 2011.
British
Judge, Christopher Butcher who gave the ruling in a virtual hearing on Friday
May 22, said the cased could not go ahead in England, and also denied the
Nigerian government the permission to appeal against the judgement.
Barnaby Pace,
a journalist and oil campaigner who monitored the judgement which has set back
the long standing trial, tweeted;
JUSTICE
BUTCHER OF THE ENGLISH COMMERCIAL COURT SHOULD RULE THIS MORNING WHETHER
NIGERIA’S $1BN LAWSUIT AGAINST SHELL AND ENI OVER ALLEGED BRIBERY IN THE
MASSIVE OPL 245 DEAL WILL GO AHEAD IN THE UK OR STRUCK OUT AS BEING DUPLICATIVE
OF THE ONGOING PROCEEDINGS IN ITALY.
THE HEARING’S
HAPPENING ONLINE SO ITS AN OLD PHOTO OUTSIDE THE ROYAL COURTS OF JUSTICE! THE
LISTING SAYS THE HEARING WILL BE FOR “CONSEQUENTIALS /FURTHER ARGUMENTS” SO
THERE WILL LIKELY ALSO BE ARGUMENTS OVER COSTS AS WELL AS THE HANDING DOWN OF A
JUDGEMENT.
JUSTICE
BUTCHER RULES THAT THE ENGLISH COURT DOES NOT HAVE JURISDICTION. MORE DETAILS
TO FOLLOW ONCE WE GET THE WRITTEN RULING. THIS OF COURSE DOESN’T AFFECT THE
ONGOING ITALIAN PROCEEDINGS WHERE NIGERIA HAS A SEPARATE LEGAL CLAIM. ENI IS
NOW MAKING ARGUMENT FOR COSTS AGAINST THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA.
FRN HAS
AGREED WITH SHELL THAT THEY WILL PAY 60% OF SHELL’S COSTS. JUSTICE BUTCHER’S
WRITTEN RULING FINDS THE ENGLISH CASE AND THE ITALIAN PROCEEDINGS HAVE THE SAME
PARTIES, SAME ESSENTIAL FACTS (OR CAUSE OF ACTION), AND CONSIDERED BROADLY THE
CASES HAVE THE SAME OBJECT IN MIND – REDRESS FOR ALLEGED BRIBERY BY SHELL AND
OTHERS.
NIGERIA’S
LAWYER LAYS OUT THAT THE DEFENDANTS; SHELL, ENI & EVP HAVE RACKED UP AN
“EXCESSIVE” £3M IN COSTS, COMPARED TO £850K BY NIGERIA. THEY CALL THE
DEFENDANTS’ APPROACH “HEAVY HANDED” AND SAY ITS NOT APPROPRIATE FOR THE
DEFENDANTS TO CLAIM COSTS FOR ISSUES THEY DROPPED.
INTERESTINGLY
JUSTICE BUTCHER RULED AGAINST SHELL’S ARGUMENTS THAT NIGERIA MISLED THE COURT
IN ITS INITIAL APPLICATION. HE FOUND: “IT DOES NOT APPEAR TO ME THAT THERE WAS
A FAILURE TO DISCLOSE OR MISREPRESENTATION OF MATTERS WHICH MIGHT HAVE MISLED
THE COURT”
JUSTICE
BUTCHER SAYS HE WON’T USE NIGERIA’S LAWYER’S TERMS OF “STAGGERING” OR “EYE
WATERING” BUT THAT “THERE PROBABLY HAS BEEN A HEAVY HANDED APPROACH ON BEHALF
OF THE DEFENDANTS TO RESISTING” THE CLAIM AND THAT THEY RACKED UP £3M IN COSTS
IS “CONCERNING” TO THE COURT.
JUSTICE
BUTCHER SAYS COSTS OVERALL WERE “DECIDEDLY HIGH” AND ORDERS THAT FRN PAY THE SAME
AMOUNT OF ENI’S COSTS THAT NIGERIA AGREED WITH SHELL. HE SAYS OBI/ EVP’S
ARGUMENTS WERE “OPTIMISTIC” GIVEN OBI HAS BEEN CONVICTED IN ITALY SO NIGERIA
WILL PAY LESS OF THEIR COSTS
NIGERIA
ARGUES THAT THEY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO APPEAL THE JUDGEMENT ON THE BASIS OF
SEVERAL LEGAL PRECEDENTS. ENI AND SHELL DISAGREE WITH NIGERIA’S ARGUMENTS AND
SAY NIGERIA SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO APPEAL.
NIGERIA WILL
HAVE TO SEEK PERMISSION TO APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF APPEAL AS JUSTICE BUTCHER
SAYS HE WON’T GRANT PERMISSION.
THAT’S THE
END OF THE HEARING. ANY INTREPID JOURNALISTS WHO’D LIKE TO REPORT ON THE RULING
PLEASE DO GET IN TOUCH AND I CAN PASS ON A COPY OF THE JUDGEMENT.
The Nigerian
government had sued Shell and ENI for $1.1 billion in 2011 over the licencing
of OML 245 which the nation claims the said companies made it miss as a result
of bribes they paid to Malabu oil, owned by former Minister of Petroleum Dan
Etete.
While Shell
and ENI paid a signature bonus of $210 million to the federal government, they
paid $1.1 billion to buy 100 percent interest in the oil block from Malabu. The
entire $1.3 billion was transferred to the account of the federal government in
London, UK, from where Malabu was paid its $1.1 billion. However both oil
companies have denied the bribery allegations, with Eni saying it made no profit from the deal
because “Nigeria declined to grant a mining license”.
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