Ten individuals apart from ex-President Goodluck Jonathan ,his wife, Patience and former Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke,top the list of Nigerians and non Nigerians whose alleged records with American banks are being sought by the Federal Government.
Forty-seven firms are also on the list.
Nigeria is asking a federal court in New York for permission to subpoena information about transactions involving the 60 individuals and firms as part of the effort to invalidate the $9.6b fine awarded to the Irish company Process and Industrial Development Limited (P&ID) by a UK commercial court.
Other names on the list are:late Rilwanu Lukman,a former Petroleum Minister; former attorney general and minister of justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke ;Allison Amaechina Madueke; Taofiq Tijani; Grace Taiga; Mohammad Kuchazi; late Michael Quinn; James Nolan; Adam Quinn; Ibrahim Dikko.
Online publication PREMIUM TIMES listed the subpoenaed firms as Process & Industrial Developments Limited; Process & Industrial Developments (Nigeria) Limited; Industrial Consultants (International) Limited; Lismore Capital Limited; VR Advisory Services Limited; VR Advisory Services (USA), LLC and VR Capital Group.
Others include Marshpearl Nigeria Limited; Kristholm Limited; Trinitron Nigeria Limited; Albion Marine Company Limited; Marshpearl Nigeria Limited; Holgate Limited; Lurgi Consults Limited; Lurgi Consults West Africa Limited; Rotary Nigeria Limited; Goidel Resources Limited and Kent Marine Limited.
The rest are Ecophoenix Limited; Lir Resources Limited; Niric Nigeria Limited; Hobson Industries Limited; MICAD Project City Services Limited; Babcock Electrical Projects Limited; NWMAS Nigeria Limited; Sabiex International Limited; Robey Oil & Gas Limited; Capinero Structures Limited; Pan African Drilling Company Limited; Panceltica Nigeria Limited; Marqott Nigeria Limited; Jamisaq Development Services Limited; Dbrite Imaging Nigeria Limited; Hexing Technical Services Limited; Pinimi Limited; Primetake Limited; Armcon Limited; Defthec Limited; Marshpearl Limited and SES FTF Progress Limited; ICIL Limited; Trinity Biotech; Kore Holdings Limited; Onmipol S.A. and Eastwise Trading Limited.
Nigeria’s attorney in the litigation Alexander Pencu, a partner of Meister Seelig & Fein LLP, is requesting ”all documents concerning any transactions to, from, or for the benefit of” the aforementioned individuals and companies from 10 American banks.”
These 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”).
The lawyer says the information being sought is meant for use in “ongoing foreign criminal investigations and criminal proceedings in the Federal Republic of Nigeria (the “Nigerian Proceedings”).”
The information,according to the attorney, is also to “ assist Applicants in the Nigerian Proceedings to investigate and prosecute individuals and entities that participated in, and were enriched by, P&ID’s fraudulent scheme.”
The subpoena asks each of the banks or their representatives to “appear at the time, date, and place set forth below to testify at a deposition to be taken in this civil action.
If you are an organization, you must designate one or more officers, directors, or managing agents, or designate other persons who consent to testify on your behalf about the following matters, or those set forth in an attachment,” it stated.
“You, or your representatives, must also bring with you to the deposition the following documents, electronically stored information, or objects, and must permit inspection, copying, testing, or sampling of the material…”
News of the subpoena was broken on Tuesday.
In a swift reaction Dr Jonathan vehemently denied having an account or property abroad.
His spokesman, Ikechukwu Eze said the Federal Government “did not contact Dr. Jonathan or his wife before issuing these subpoenas.”
He added:”If they had, we would have advised them of the fact that you cannot subpoena what does not exist.
“We also remind the public that on March 5, 2014, during the swearing in of new ministers, then President Jonathan said ‘I am loyal to Nigeria’s economy. I don’t have accounts or property abroad.’
Jonathan,Eze declared, “has no accounts in the United States of America, and encourages US authorities to cooperate fully with the Federal Government of Nigeria’s subpoena.”
Continuing,he said: “We would also like to state that during his tenure as President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan extended every courtesy to former Presidents and Heads of state, because he believed and still believes that promoting, projecting and protecting Nigeria’s sovereignty and image is the paramount duty of her government, because it is not possible to belittle Nigerians without belittling Nigeria.
“Finally, we state that the signing of the P&ID contracts preceded the Jonathan administration, and that that government gave appropriate counsel to the incoming government in the handover notes of 2015, which advice, if carried out, would have prevented the current unfortunate circumstances.”
Nigeria denies awarding a contract to P&ID which triggered the dispute between the two parties.
