FG studying UK court judgement in favour of JP Morgan on OPL 245′

Nigeria’s federal government says it is studying the judgment of the commercial court of England and Wales, which ruled that there was no evidence of fraud against JP Morgan in the OPL 245 transaction.

Minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, disclosed this on Wednesday while fielding questions from journalists after the federal executive council (FEC) meeting.

Recall that on Tuesday, the Nigerian government lost $1.7 billion in claims against JP Morgan Chase Bank.

However, Mohammed said the government’s lawyers would study the ruling and decide whether to appeal or not.

Nigerian government had sued JP Morgan on the ground of “Quincecare duty”, alleging that the bank “ought to have known” that there was corruption and fraud in the transaction which saw Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd sell its 100 per cent stake in OPL 245 to Shell and ENI for $1.1 billion in 2011.

Nigeria argued that there were enough “red flags” for JP Morgan to have halted the transfers.

In 2021, an Italian court dismissed all corruption charges in the OPL 245 deal, discharging and acquitting all the defendants