$15 Billion Judgment Against Nigeria: Supreme Court Set To Hear Application To Regularize Appeal To Set Aside Ruling On Monday

All eyes will once again be fixed on the Supreme Court on
Monday, as it continues its hearing on a matter involving the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) and
others and an oil and gas company – Petro Union Oil and Gas Company
Limited (Petro Union), over an alleged £2.556 billion fraud
attempt.

The hearing at the apex court continues even as Petro Union
officials answer to criminal charges at the Federal High Court in
Lagos on the same matter, which according to the EFCC is a brazen
attempt to defraud the Federal Republic of Nigeria and UBN of the
mind-boggling sum, in a manner reminiscent of the infamous $10
billion Process & Industrial Development Limited (P&ID) fraud
case.

As the Petro Union case resumes, expectations are high that the
Supreme Court of Nigeria will deliver a sound decision, especially
as the criminal case at the Federal High court continues to unravel
evidence which indicate that the judgments in favour of Petro Union
at the lower courts, were allegedly obtained by fraud.

Petro Union’s antics began in 1994 when the company allegedly
procured a cheque from a branch of Barclays Bank in the UK with a
value of £2.556 billion and presented it at one of Union Bank’s
branches in Lagos, under the pretext that the oil company was meant
to use the funds to construct three petrochemical refinery
complexes in Nigeria and establish a bank in Nigeria. While the
required due diligence investigations were being carried out, one
Mr. Okpala, the Managing Director of Petro Union, allegedly
inundated the Bank and the CBN with visits and demands for the
release of the cheque.

Eventually, both the CBN and Union Bank advised Petro Union that
Barclays Bank in the UK had been contacted and had subsequently
confirmed that the cheque could not be given value to because the
company that purportedly issued the cheque dated 29 December 1994
(a company, known as Gazeaft Limited) did not exist on the Register
of Companies in the UK. The response similarly affirmed that the
account on which the cheque was drawn was closed on 21st September
1989 whereas the cheque was issued on 29 December 1994 – five years
after the account was closed.

Despite the foregoing startling discovery and decisive response,
Petro Union and Isaac Okpala persisted with their demands,
culminating in a petition by the company to the Lagos office of the
EFCC, for alleged offences of stealing and criminal conversion
against the CBN and Union Bank. Following, the petition, the EFCC
investigated the allegation by interrogating the CBN through a
letter dated 12th January 2005. In a letter dated 27th January
2005, The CBN responded to the query by the EFCC wherein it denied
the allegations of Petro Union. The EFCC also made other efforts to
investigate the allegations including corresponding with Barclays
Bank in the UK. Having concluded its investigation, the EFCC issued
a letter dated 10th May 2005 addressed to the Managing Director of
Union Bank exonerating the Bank from any wrongdoing.

However, in its desperation to use the allegedly forged cheque
to perpetrate the fraud on CBN and Union Bank, Petro Union in
February 2012 instituted an action at a Federal High Court, Abuja
seeking sundry reliefs against (1) CBN, (2) Union Bank, (3) Hon.
Minister of Finance and (4) The Attorney-General of the Federation
following the allegation that Union Bank of Nigeria received the
sum of £2,556,000,000.00 on behalf of Petro Union and transferred
the sum of £2,159,221,318.54 to the CBN while retaining the sum of
£396,778,681.46 as commission.

Petro Union further alleged that the money is kept in an account
in the name of a company called Goldmatic Limited at the CBN and
tendered a purported CBN Statement of Account of Goldmatic Limited.
The Federal High Court, Abuja Judge before whom the claim was
filed, Honourable Justice Abdu Kafarati accepted the purported CBN
Statement of Account as conclusive evidence that CBN had retained
the money alleged to belong to Petro Union, despite the elementary
fact that globally a central bank cannot open an account for a
private entity – the CBN is statutorily empowered to act as bankers
to government and bankers to banks.

Although Petro Union and its directors presumably knew these
facts to be false from the onset, they pursued the so-called fraud
up to the Court of Appeal where they obtained judgement to
establish that the £2.159 billion was lodged in the coffers of the
Central Bank of Nigeria.

Union Bank therefore appealed to appellate courts to set the
judgment aside, urging the courts to deliver justice in the matter
especially when the truth of the alleged fraud had been uncovered
following the arrest, detention and ongoing criminal prosecution of
Petro Union and its officers at a Lagos Federal High Court.

The judgment obtained by Petro Union at the Federal High Court
in 2014 for the sum of £2.556 billion also carries an interest of
15% per annum from 22nd June 1995 until payment. Today, that
judgment sum together with interest is in excess of £12 billion
(about $15.5 billion).

All eyes will once again be fixed on the Supreme Court on
Monday, as it continues its hearing on a matter involving the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) and
others and an oil and gas company – Petro Union Oil and Gas Company
Limited (Petro Union), over an alleged £2.556 billion fraud
attempt.

The hearing at the apex court continues even as Petro Union
officials answer to criminal charges at the Federal High Court in
Lagos on the same matter, which according to the EFCC is a brazen
attempt to defraud the Federal Republic of Nigeria and UBN of the
mind-boggling sum, in a manner reminiscent of the infamous $10
billion Process & Industrial Development Limited (P&ID) fraud
case.

As the Petro Union case resumes, expectations are high that the
Supreme Court of Nigeria will deliver a sound decision, especially
as the criminal case at the Federal High court continues to unravel
evidence which indicate that the judgments in favour of Petro Union
at the lower courts, were allegedly obtained by fraud.

Petro Union’s antics began in 1994 when the company allegedly
procured a cheque from a branch of Barclays Bank in the UK with a
value of £2.556 billion and presented it at one of Union Bank’s
branches in Lagos, under the pretext that the oil company was meant
to use the funds to construct three petrochemical refinery
complexes in Nigeria and establish a bank in Nigeria. While the
required due diligence investigations were being carried out, one
Mr. Okpala, the Managing Director of Petro Union, allegedly
inundated the Bank and the CBN with visits and demands for the
release of the cheque.

Eventually, both the CBN and Union Bank advised Petro Union that
Barclays Bank in the UK had been contacted and had subsequently
confirmed that the cheque could not be given value to because the
company that purportedly issued the cheque dated 29 December 1994
(a company, known as Gazeaft Limited) did not exist on the Register
of Companies in the UK. The response similarly affirmed that the
account on which the cheque was drawn was closed on 21st September
1989 whereas the cheque was issued on 29 December 1994 – five years
after the account was closed.

Despite the foregoing startling discovery and decisive response,
Petro Union and Isaac Okpala persisted with their demands,
culminating in a petition by the company to the Lagos office of the
EFCC, for alleged offences of stealing and criminal conversion
against the CBN and Union Bank. Following, the petition, the EFCC
investigated the allegation by interrogating the CBN through a
letter dated 12th January 2005. In a letter dated 27th January
2005, The CBN responded to the query by the EFCC wherein it denied
the allegations of Petro Union. The EFCC also made other efforts to
investigate the allegations including corresponding with Barclays
Bank in the UK. Having concluded its investigation, the EFCC issued
a letter dated 10th May 2005 addressed to the Managing Director of
Union Bank exonerating the Bank from any wrongdoing.

However, in its desperation to use the allegedly forged cheque
to perpetrate the fraud on CBN and Union Bank, Petro Union in
February 2012 instituted an action at a Federal High Court, Abuja
seeking sundry reliefs against (1) CBN, (2) Union Bank, (3) Hon.
Minister of Finance and (4) The Attorney-General of the Federation
following the allegation that Union Bank of Nigeria received the
sum of £2,556,000,000.00 on behalf of Petro Union and transferred
the sum of £2,159,221,318.54 to the CBN while retaining the sum of
£396,778,681.46 as commission.

Petro Union further alleged that the money is kept in an account
in the name of a company called Goldmatic Limited at the CBN and
tendered a purported CBN Statement of Account of Goldmatic Limited.
The Federal High Court, Abuja Judge before whom the claim was
filed, Honourable Justice Abdu Kafarati accepted the purported CBN
Statement of Account as conclusive evidence that CBN had retained
the money alleged to belong to Petro Union, despite the elementary
fact that globally a central bank cannot open an account for a
private entity – the CBN is statutorily empowered to act as bankers
to government and bankers to banks.

Although Petro Union and its directors presumably knew these
facts to be false from the onset, they pursued the so-called fraud
up to the Court of Appeal where they obtained judgement to
establish that the £2.159 billion was lodged in the coffers of the
Central Bank of Nigeria.

Union Bank therefore appealed to appellate courts to set the
judgment aside, urging the courts to deliver justice in the matter
especially when the truth of the alleged fraud had been uncovered
following the arrest, detention and ongoing criminal prosecution of
Petro Union and its officers at a Lagos Federal High Court.

The judgment obtained by Petro Union at the Federal High Court
in 2014 for the sum of £2.556 billion also carries an interest of
15% per annum from 22nd June 1995 until payment. Today, that
judgment sum together with interest is in excess of £12 billion
(about $15.5 billion).