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Nigeria today suffered a huge financial and legal loss as a U.S. bank, JP Morgan Chase, won a $1.7 billion lawsuit against Nigeria in a London high Court.
The London court cleared JP Morgan of the civil suit filed against it by Nigeria over the purchase by energy majors Shell and Eni of the offshore OPL 245 oilfield in Nigeria.
In February, the London court began hearing a lawsuit launched by Nigeria against JP Morgan Chase for its role in the disputed 2011 oilfield deal.
The trial of the long-running case started with details of the claim by Nigeria’s lawyer, Roger Masefield.
The American bank had faulted the allegations leveled against it by the Nigerian government in the controversial Malabu scandal.
The Nigerian government under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan and a former Nigerian Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke had claimed more than $1.7 billion from JP Morgan’s role in the controversial deal.
The nation had alleged that the bank was “grossly negligent” in its decision to transfer funds paid by oil giants Shell and Eni into an escrow account owned by Malabu, a company controlled by a former Nigerian oil minister, Dan Etete.