Nigeria’s anti-fraud office on Monday charged two Britons in the capital, Abuja, for alleged money laundering in connection with an ill-fated gas deal that has left the government facing a disputed bill of more than $9 billion.

James Richard Nolan and Adam Quinn pleaded not guilty in an Abuja court to 16 counts of money laundering put forward by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The judge remanded Nolan in prison until his application for bail is considered. Quinn is at large and Nolan’s defence lawyer entered a plea on his behalf.

The EFCC said in a statement that the two men were directors of two companies that the agency alleged failed to report to the anti-graft agency a single deposit of $125,000 into a local account and also failed to comply with local requirements to declare their activities to the trade and investment ministry.

The charges relate to a 2010 contract with British Virgin Islands-based firm Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID) to build and operate a gas-processing plant in the southeastern port city of Calabar.

P&ID took Nigeria’s government to international arbitration after the deal’s collapse, eventually winning a $6.6 billion award. It has been accruing interest since 2013 and is now worth more than $9 billion.

The government has said the deal was designed to fail and called the award “an assault on every Nigerian and unfair.” P&ID said the EFCC had harassed, intimidated and denied due process to individuals associated with the company and the contract.

The EFCC has also charged a former petroleum ministry official with accepting bribes and failing to follow protocol.

The trial of the two Britons is scheduled for Nov. 20 and 21.

Source: The Breaking Time

Nigeria does not expect that it would get all of the $62 billion claim made against international oil companies in a dispute over sharing of profits from deepwater wells.

The government has started discussing with the oil majors over the disagreement but does not expect that they have the money to pay, Timipre Sylva, minister of state for Petroleum Resources said.

“Nobody can bring out that kind of money. We can’t get $62 billion. We can maybe get something out of them but we can’t get back $62 billion” Sylva said.

Africa’s largest oil producer is keen on passing into law an amended petroleum bill that guides how profit is shared between the government and oil firms in deep offshore exploration. The new law, which scaled through the Senate on Tuesday and now awaiting concurrence by the House of Representatives before its sent to the president for assent, adjusts the tax regime in the sector so that the government gets a higher take from profits.

Most of Nigeria’s crude is pumped by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., Total SA and Eni SpA, who operate joint ventures with state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. Under production-sharing legislation, the companies agreed to fund the development of deepwater oil fields on the basis that they would share profit with the government after recovering their costs.

It was part of the agreement that the government will negotiate a bigger share of profits once oil prices rose above $20 a barrel. Crude was selling at $9.50 a barrel when the law became effective 26 years ago, but the deal was never renegotiated when crude rose above the agreed price.

“We were supposed to negotiate and get some additional revenue. Unfortunately we slept on our right, so we didn’t take advantage of that. The money is gone because this money has not been kept in some cupboard. So of course it’s a lost opportunity” Sylva said.

Source: bnn bloomberg