Trials against oil
companies to begin on Oct.
26, judge says
Government alleges
‘under-declarations’ in
crude exports
Nigeria’s government can
take the local units of
Chevron Corp. and Total SA
to trial for illegally exporting
oil, a judge said.
Justice Cecilia Olatoregun
dismissed claims from the
companies that they had no
cases to answer at a hearing
in the Federal High Court in
Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial
capital, on Friday. The trials
will begin on Oct. 26, she
said.
“The government is seeking
revenues that it lost due to
under-declarations” of
exports, Fabian Ajogwu, a
lawyer for the government,
said to reporters after the
hearing. “Essentially, we will
go into trial.”
Miannaya Essien,
representing Chevron, and
Babatunde Fagbohun, a
lawyer for Total, declined to
comment.
Nigeria is taking several
international oil companies --
including Royal Dutch Shell
Plc, Eni SpA and Petroleo
Brasileiro SA -- to court
allegedly for failing to
declare more than 57 million
barrels of crude exports
between 2011 and 2014. The
government says the oil was
worth about $13 billion,
according to the Associated
Press. Nigeria’s lower house
of parliament said last week
it ordered a separate
investigation into whether as
much as $17 billion of fuel
exports were stolen during
the period.
Petrobras’s next hearing will
be on Oct. 10 and Shell’s on
Oct. 20, according to court
documents. Eni’s Agip next
hearing is due 31 Oct.
President Muhammadu
Buhari, who came to power in
May 2015, has said that
“mind-boggling” sums of
money have disappeared
from Nigeria’s oil industry.
The economy, battered by
crude prices more than
halving since 2014, is
heading for its first
recession this year since
1991, according to the
International Monetary Fund.
Bef

iflywithbuhari:
Thank you Buhari. You just approved your own sack. The oil companies will quickly contract mercenaries to send you on late retirement

id911:


Exactly, the IOCs know Buhari controls the court and if the case continues in Nigerian court, the judges would dance to Buhari's tune. So they would contract mercenaries home and abroad to destroy the govt.

I am aware of the evil going on in the Oil and Gas sector even as I type but the truth is, Nigerian govt just want to use this case as a propaganda tool to deceive the people to gain more ground towards 2019 election