Memo on $5m Legal Fees Reveals NIMASA Only Obeyed Directives from Presidency, Attorney General
Photo of a big red oil tanker. There is long oil pipeline and cargo crane on deck of this ship. Vessel is steaming in blue, calm water to skyline under blue sky with smooth white clouds.
BY FRANCIS UGWOKE
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) was simply obeying the directives from the Presidency and the Attorney General in respect of the payment of $5m legal fees over a court case against International oil Companies (IOCs) nine years ago, a source in the agency has revealed.
This clarification came as the Senate issued a warrant of arrest against the NIMASA Director General for disbursing such huge amount as legal fees in prosecution of the case.
The directive to pay the huge sum came from the Presidency and the Attorney General of the Federation, the source also revealed.
The case itself was to check alleged malpractices by some IOCs involved in under declaration and under remittance of crude oil exports proceeds.
According to the source, the federal government had moved to check continued “decline in hydrocarbon exports revenue due to ineffective monitoring of hydrocarbon shipments by the IOCs”.
To address this issue, government had decided to track
the global movement of Nigeria’s hydrocarbon and recover lost revenue, the source said.
It was this that led to the Attorney – General of the Federation and Minister of Justice by a letter dated 29th November 2013, conveying to NIMASA the approval of the President dated 19th day of November 2013, for the engagement of technical experts and legal team to provide intelligence gathering on such exports.
This was to track Nigeria’s hydrocarbon as well as recover revenue lost by the government.
Information made available showed that NIMASA had on January 2014 conveyed the approval of the President to the Legal Team on their appointment and engagement for the national assignment.
It was also revealed that though the legal team was five, the number was increased by the current Attorney General to seven to handle the case in the United States of America .
It was gathered that the legal team were made up of (5) law firms with three Senior Advocates and other lawyers as well as a technical team based in Houston United States.
Part of the memo on the issue states, “The current Honourable Attorney-General under his hand, increased the Legal Team to Seven (7) Law Firms to work with the Technical Team based in Houston United States to prosecute the matters in Court.
“The effective date of the appointment of the Legal Team was 29th day of January 2014, covering an initial period of 10yeas
“The Legal team was paid Professional/ legal start-off fee of US5,000,000 (Five Million US Dollars) (NGN741,904,761.28 at an exchange rate of NGN164 to a USD as of the date) which formed part of the legal fees and costs due to the Legal Team and deductible from the payment due to the Legal Team/Retained Counsel upon the conclusion of the Project.
“The Agency is aware the Legal Team had filed several suits which are at various stages, both at the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal”.
A source in NIMASA said the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation has been provided with periodic updates on issues involved.
The agency also said it is closely monitoring the proceedings.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is said to be involved in tracing and recovering the stolen crudes and unremitted funds.
Some of the suit are pending at the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal (Lagos Division) , it was revealed.
Among the cases include:
“SUIT NO. FHC/L/CS/318/2016 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V CHEVRON NIGERIA LTD & ANOR.
SUIT NO. FHC/L/CS/359/2016 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V TOTAL E & P NIGERIA LTD
SUIT NO. FHC/L/CS/339/16 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V SHELL WESTERN SUPPLY AND TRADING LTD & SHELL PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY OF NIGERIA LTD – Alleged crude oil theft: Court to hear $406.7m case against Shell, reported in Vanguard Newspaper on https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/01/alleged-crude-oil-theft-court-hear-406-7m-case-shell/
SUIT NO. FHC/L/CS/1748/16 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V. CNOOC EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION NIGERIA LTD
SUIT NO: FHC/L/CS/1465/17 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V. STAR DEEP WATER PETROLEUM LTD
APPEAL NO: CA/L/PRE/ROA/353MI/2020 – CHEVRON PETROLEUM NIG. LTD V FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA
APPEAL NO. CA/L/54/18 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V TOTAL E & P NIGERIA LTD
APPEAL NO. CA/LAG/CV/825/19 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V NIGERIA AGIP OIL COMPANY LTD
APPEAL NO. CA/LAG/CV/824/2019 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V BRASOIL OIL SERVICES COMPANY NIGERIA LTD
APPEAL NO: CA/LAG/CV/215/2022 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V CNOOC EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION NIGERIA LTD
The Agency is also aware that an Arbitral Award was also obtained against one of the oil companies in favour of the FGN (NNPC/ NPDC) in the sum of USD1.69 Billion as well as got recognition and enforcement order in the Judgment in favour of the FGN (NNPC/ NPD in SUIT NO. FHC/L/CS/947/2019 – NIGERIAN PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT CO. LTD V ATLANTIC ENERGY DRILLING CONCEPTS NIG. LITD & ANOR on the basis of KPMG forensic report.
Please see the Guardian Newspapers of Dec. 8, 2020 – available online on – https://guardian.ng/features/court-upholds-landmark-us1-7-billion-arbitral-award-in-favour-of-npdc-on-brass-and-forcados-assets
Also reported in ThisDay of December 8, 2020 and available at https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/12/08/court-upholds-1-7bn-arbitral-award-in-favour-of-npdc-on-brass-forcados-assets/
Crude oil remittance: Court upholds $1.7bn arbitral award in favour of NPDC, reported in Vanguard Newspapers, December 10,2020 – available on https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/12/crude-oil-remittance-court-upholds-1-7bn-arbitral-award-in-favour-of-npdc/ “.
This clarification came as the Senate issued a warrant of arrest against the NIMASA Director General for disbursing such huge amount as legal fees in prosecution of the case.
The directive to pay the huge sum came from the Presidency and the Attorney General of the Federation, the source also revealed.
The case itself was to check alleged malpractices by some IOCs involved in under declaration and under remittance of crude oil exports proceeds.
According to the source, the federal government had moved to check continued “decline in hydrocarbon exports revenue due to ineffective monitoring of hydrocarbon shipments by the IOCs”.
To address this issue, government had decided to track
the global movement of Nigeria’s hydrocarbon and recover lost revenue, the source said.
It was this that led to the Attorney – General of the Federation and Minister of Justice by a letter dated 29th November 2013, conveying to NIMASA the approval of the President dated 19th day of November 2013, for the engagement of technical experts and legal team to provide intelligence gathering on such exports.
This was to track Nigeria’s hydrocarbon as well as recover revenue lost by the government.
Information made available showed that NIMASA had on January 2014 conveyed the approval of the President to the Legal Team on their appointment and engagement for the national assignment.
It was also revealed that though the legal team was five, the number was increased by the current Attorney General to seven to handle the case in the United States of America .
It was gathered that the legal team were made up of (5) law firms with three Senior Advocates and other lawyers as well as a technical team based in Houston United States.
Part of the memo on the issue states, “The current Honourable Attorney-General under his hand, increased the Legal Team to Seven (7) Law Firms to work with the Technical Team based in Houston United States to prosecute the matters in Court.
“The effective date of the appointment of the Legal Team was 29th day of January 2014, covering an initial period of 10yeas
“The Legal team was paid Professional/ legal start-off fee of US5,000,000 (Five Million US Dollars) (NGN741,904,761.28 at an exchange rate of NGN164 to a USD as of the date) which formed part of the legal fees and costs due to the Legal Team and deductible from the payment due to the Legal Team/Retained Counsel upon the conclusion of the Project.
“The Agency is aware the Legal Team had filed several suits which are at various stages, both at the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal”.
A source in NIMASA said the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation has been provided with periodic updates on issues involved.
The agency also said it is closely monitoring the proceedings.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is said to be involved in tracing and recovering the stolen crudes and unremitted funds.
Some of the suit are pending at the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal (Lagos Division) , it was revealed.
Among the cases include:
“SUIT NO. FHC/L/CS/318/2016 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V CHEVRON NIGERIA LTD & ANOR.
SUIT NO. FHC/L/CS/359/2016 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V TOTAL E & P NIGERIA LTD
SUIT NO. FHC/L/CS/339/16 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V SHELL WESTERN SUPPLY AND TRADING LTD & SHELL PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY OF NIGERIA LTD – Alleged crude oil theft: Court to hear $406.7m case against Shell, reported in Vanguard Newspaper on https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/01/alleged-crude-oil-theft-court-hear-406-7m-case-shell/
SUIT NO. FHC/L/CS/1748/16 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V. CNOOC EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION NIGERIA LTD
SUIT NO: FHC/L/CS/1465/17 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V. STAR DEEP WATER PETROLEUM LTD
APPEAL NO: CA/L/PRE/ROA/353MI/2020 – CHEVRON PETROLEUM NIG. LTD V FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA
APPEAL NO. CA/L/54/18 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V TOTAL E & P NIGERIA LTD
APPEAL NO. CA/LAG/CV/825/19 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V NIGERIA AGIP OIL COMPANY LTD
APPEAL NO. CA/LAG/CV/824/2019 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V BRASOIL OIL SERVICES COMPANY NIGERIA LTD
APPEAL NO: CA/LAG/CV/215/2022 – FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA V CNOOC EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION NIGERIA LTD
The Agency is also aware that an Arbitral Award was also obtained against one of the oil companies in favour of the FGN (NNPC/ NPDC) in the sum of USD1.69 Billion as well as got recognition and enforcement order in the Judgment in favour of the FGN (NNPC/ NPD in SUIT NO. FHC/L/CS/947/2019 – NIGERIAN PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT CO. LTD V ATLANTIC ENERGY DRILLING CONCEPTS NIG. LITD & ANOR on the basis of KPMG forensic report.
Please see the Guardian Newspapers of Dec. 8, 2020 – available online on – https://guardian.ng/features/court-upholds-landmark-us1-7-billion-arbitral-award-in-favour-of-npdc-on-brass-and-forcados-assets
Also reported in ThisDay of December 8, 2020 and available at https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/12/08/court-upholds-1-7bn-arbitral-award-in-favour-of-npdc-on-brass-forcados-assets/
Crude oil remittance: Court upholds $1.7bn arbitral award in favour of NPDC, reported in Vanguard Newspapers, December 10,2020 – available on https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/12/crude-oil-remittance-court-upholds-1-7bn-arbitral-award-in-favour-of-npdc/ “.
FOLLOW US
About Post Author
