$9.6billion Arbitral Fraud: Court Grants Nigeria’s Bid to Summon UBA, Others

The United Bank of Africa, UBA is again in trouble as a New York federal judge has ruled that Nigeria can subpoena the bank and nine other banks for information needed to prosecute government officials allegedly connected to a British Virgin Island engineering firm’s alleged bribery scheme and subsequent $9.6 billion arbitral claim.

According to a May 8 report in legal website law360.com, District Judge Lorna Schofield, who gave the ruling, ordered the banks to allow the Nigerian government have access to sundry account details of officials listed in its subpoena request.

The move, the judge ruled, would enable the Nigerian government prove its claim that the $9.6 billion arbitration was obtained through Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) by fraud.

The filings were done by Alexander Pencu, a partner of Meister Seelig & Fein LLP, attorneys for the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice of Nigeria.

Other banks involved are include: “Citibank, N.A. (“Citibank”) , Allied Irish Banks plc (“Allied Irish”), HSBC Bank USA (“HSBC”), Standard New York, Inc. (“Standard New York”), Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas (“Deutsche Bank”), J.P. Morgan Chase (“JPMorgan”) Bank of Cyprus, Fortis Private Banking Singapore Limited (“Fortis”), and Standard Chartered International (USA) Ltd. (‘Standard Chartered”).

Before now, Nigeria asked the federal court in New York for permission to subpoena information about transactions involving government officials. The politicians were in office when the state signed a contract with Process & Industrial Developments Ltd., and later became involved in a costly dispute with the company.

Among the politically-exposed persons named in the subpoena are a former oil minister who is now late, Rilwanu Lukman; President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience Faka Jonathan; Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former petroleum minister during the tenure of Mr Jonathan; and Allison Amaechina Madueke.

Others named in the subpoena are Taofiq Tijani; Grace Taiga; Mohammad Kuchazi; one Michael Quinn, who died in 2014; James Nolan; Adam Quinn; and Ibrahim Dikko.

Also listed is former attorney general and minister of justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke. The request includes “all documents concerning any transactions to, from, or for the benefit of” the aforementioned individuals and companies.

Before the latest mess from New York on UBA, a petition had also gone to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC that the United Bank of Africa, UBA is in a pool of 800 million IGR controversy in Niger state.

The bank has been dressed in similar robe in Nasarawa State where forensic investigation discovered it withheld about N506 million due to the state.