United States Judge, Lorna Schofield, has granted the request of Federal Government for a subpoena on 10 United States banks for evidence needed to prosecute government officials that are having allegations bordering on British Virgin Island engineering firm, Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) alleged bribery scandal and subsequent $9.6 billion arbitral claim.
The filings were executed by Alexander Pencu, a partner of Meister Seelig & Fein LLP, Federal Republic of Nigeria Attorneys and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice of Nigeria, Abubakar Malami.
The affected banks are; “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”), United Bank for Africa (“UBA”), Bank of Cyprus, Fortis Private Banking Singapore Limited (“Fortis”), and Standard Chartered International (USA) Ltd. (‘Standard Chartered”).
While granting the request, Lorna Schofield directed the affected banks to give the Nigerian government allowance to access the information they need to support their case.
By implication, the accounts of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience Faka Jonathan, Rilwanu Lukman, Diezani Alison-Madueke, Allison Amaechina Madueke, Mohammed Bello Adoke and others will be thoroughly accessed.
It has also been said that some members of staff of the banks might testify in respect of the case. Nigeria stand a higher chance of overturning the $9.6 billion arbitration award lie if it can be proven that the 2010 gas supply arrangement was a plot designed to fail by government officials and P&ID.
