A Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday granted leave to the
Federal Government to amend its statement of claims in a suit filed against
Shell Western Supply and Trading Ltd over crude oil shipment resulting in
revenue loss of about $406.8m.
The suit no. FHC/L/CS/336/16 was filed by FG’s counsel, Prof.
Fabian Ajogwu (SAN), and is pending before Justice Mojisola Olatoregun.
It has as defendants; Shell Petroleum Development Company of
Nig. Ltd and its subsidiary — Shell Western Supply and Trading Ltd.
When the suit was mentioned on Monday, counsel to the plaintiff,
Mr Ituah Imhanze, informed the court of an application to amend the plaintiff’s
statement of claims.
He urged the court to grant his application and allow the
plaintiff leave to “tidy up” its pleadings.
The Defence counsel did not oppose the application for
amendment.
In a short ruling, Justice Olatoregun granted the application
but noted that besides applications for amendment of processes, there had been
no remarkable progress in the suit since it was filed.
She, however, adjourned the case until May 31 and June 1 for
hearing and directed that the plaintiff should ensure that the amended
processes were served on the defence.
The plaintiff is claiming $406.8m from the defendants, being the
shortfall of money paid into the Federal Government’s account with the Central
Bank of Nigeria.
The money was said to be for crude oil lifted in 2013 and 2014.
In a supporting affidavit, the FG had accused the Anglo-Dutch
company of not declaring or under-declaring crude oil shipments during the
period.
It said the discovery followed a forensic analysis of bills of
laden and shipping documents, adding that Shell cheated Nigeria of the huge
revenue.
According to the affidavit, the consortium of experts tracked
the global movements of the country’s hydrocarbons, including crude oil and
gas.
They identified the companies engaged in the practices that led
to missing revenues from crude oil and gas export sales to different parts of
the world.
They also revealed discrepancies in the export records from
Nigeria and the import records at U.S. ports.
The federal government averred that the undeclared shipments
between January 2013 and December 2014 brought the total value of the entire
revenue shortfall to $406.75m.
The defendants were said to have failed to respond to a
government letter through its legal representative, seeking clarification as to
the discrepancies.
The government is, therefore, seeking a court order to compel
the two companies to pay $406.8m, being the total value of the missing revenue
and interest payment at 21 percent per annum.
In addition, the government is also asking Shell to pay general
exemplary damages in the sum of $406.75m as well as the cost of the legal
action.
The government had also sued Chevron, Total and Agip in a
similar case before the court.
The FG is asking for a total of $12.7bn over alleged
non-declaration of 57 million barrels of crude shipped to the U.S. between 2011
and 2014.
The oil companies are among the 15 oil majors targeted by the
government for the recovery of $17bn in deprived revenue.
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