NY Judge Orders 10 US Banks To Release Documents Against Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan
A New York federal judge has ruled that Nigeria can subpoena
10 banks in the United States for information the country needs to prosecute
government officials allegedly connected to a British Virgin Island engineering
firm's bribery scheme and subsequent $9.6bn arbitral claim, according to
law360.com.
The Nigerian Government had last month asked the court to
compel the banks to release account details of former President, Goodluck
Jonathan, his wife, Patience, former ministers of Petroleum Resources, Mrs
Diezani Alison-Madueke and Rilwanu Lukman.
The banks listed include Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and New
York branches of Deutsche Bank AG and United Bank for Africa Plc.
Nigeria is requesting “all documents concerning any
transactions to, from, or for the benefit” of Jonathan and his wife between
2009 and this day.
District Judge, Lorna Schofield, who gave the ruling,
ordered the banks to allow the Nigerian Government have access to the account
details to enable it prove that the $9.6bn arbitration was obtained by Process
and Industrial Development by fraud.
According to court documents, the Nigerian Government is
seeking the bank documents to help an ongoing investigation by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission to know individuals in the Process and Industrial
Developments Ltd gas deal, especially the roles of Lukman and Alison-Madueke.
It said the 10 banks are “likely to have processed US dollar
transactions connected to P&ID’s operations as either correspondent banks
or the New York branches of foreign lenders”.
It however, said it had yet to find “direct evidence” that
Jonathan, Alison-Madueke and other politicians received payments from P&ID
or its affiliates.
The Nigerian Government said Lukman during his time as
minister signed the contract while Alison-Madueke was responsible for the
“flagrant mishandling” of government’s arbitration strategy until 2015.
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