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Did an alleged corrupt natural gas contract rob…

In the arbitration, Olasupo Shasore, counsel for Nigeria applied to the panel of three arbitrators for permission to cross-examine a witness. But there was a problem. Not only had the lawyer failed to take the prior procedural steps required to summon the witness; the witness was already dead.

A number of errors like this were a significant factor in Nigeria losing the case. But how could Shasore have been so incompetent?

Following the award by the London court in 2017, Nigeria attempted to delay payment by appealing to the UK courts whilst P&ID aggressively sought enforcement. However, a disclosure request in New York earlier this year revealed transactions from P&ID-linked bank accounts to two employees of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria, Taofiq Tijani and Grace Taiga, who were both heavily involved in the negotiation of the gas contract. These findings were one reason why in September 2020 the High Court in London allowed Nigeria to apply for the US$6.6 billion award to be re-considered, four and a half years after they were found liable.

However, this evidence alone may not have been enough were it not for another startling revelation.

Two other former employees of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Folakemi Adelore and Ikechukwu Oguine, travelled to London in December 2014 for negotiations with P&ID. Only a month earlier, Adelore had recommended to the Attorney General that the state had a weak case and settlement was the best option available. Seven days after this recommendation, US$100,000 was deposited into each of their accounts. The source of such well-timed payments? None other than Olasupo Shasore, the lawyer who wanted to cross-examine the dead witness. The counsel for Nigeria is accused of making these payments to cover up his conduct during the arbitration. There is little evidence to suggest another interpretation.

Nigeria has made the case that Shasore had in fact colluded with P&ID to intentionally lose the arbitration: the legal equivalent of a goalkeeper taking a bribe to throw a World Cup final. The High Court in London agreed that there is strong evidence to suggest this. As a result, Nigeria will finally have the opportunity in 2021 to argue that this was an audacious double-layered scheme to defraud an entire country, and that to reward P&ID with US$10 billion would be wrong.

Source: www.transparency.org