Business
Court reverts ownership of Malabu oil block to FG
Pending the investigation and prosecution of suspects connected to the controversial Malabu Oil deal, an Abuja High Court presided over by Justice John Tsoho has ordered interim forfeiture of Oil Prospecting License (245) to Federal Government.
The order which was made on Thursday followed an ex parte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on January 11. The agency had sought, through its application filed by Johnson Ojogbane, a revision of ownership of the oil block to government pending investigations.
The oil block, said to hold one of Africa’s largest reserves, has been valued at over $1 billion.
The EFCC had argued that it sought the interim forfeiture order to allow it to file charges against Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Limited, Shell Nigeria Exploration Limited, Malabu Oil and Gas Limited and others who had not been listed as parties to the case.
The commission had on December 20, 2016, charged nine suspects, including the former Minister for Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) with respect to the $1.1bn deal.
Other accused persons named in the charges filed by the EFCC before a Federal High Court in Abuja were a former Minister of Petroleum, Dan Etete, Aliyu Abubakar, Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd, Rocky Top Resource Ltd, Imperial Union Ltd, Novel Properties & Dev. Co. Ltd, Group Construction Ltd, Megatech Engineering Ltd.
The Malabu oil deal probe has spanned over half a decade and drawn high profile investigators from across the world, especially Europe.
The Thursday interim forfeiture order was made without hearing from other parties involved in the sale of Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 245.
Dan Etete and Mohammed Adoke, both former federal Ministers, have denied any wrong doings.
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