Bid to seize Shell and Eni Nigerian oilfield overturned
Nigeria’s financial crimes agency sought to have the OPL 245 oil block seized, and operations transferred to the federal government after bribery accusations
Abuja — On Friday, a Nigerian court overturned a request by Nigeria’s financial crimes agency to seize an oilfield from Royal Dutch Shell and Eni. In January, a court had ordered the seizure of the OPL 245 oil block and transfer of operations to the federal government on the request of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Oil companies Shell and Eni had filed motions to dispute this. The EFCC is investigating whether the $1.3bn purchase of OPL 245 in 2011 involved "acts of conspiracy, bribery official corruption and money laundering", according to court papers seen in January by Reuters. "The chairman of the EFCC failed to meet the precondition for making an application for interim attachment of properties. So the application as such was irregular, and the order granted on its basis ought to be discharged," Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court said. Shell had said the EFCC conducted "a gross abuse of process and an abuse of power" to get a court order asking ...
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