MLAT Is An Option, Nigeria Not Bound To Explore It — AGF Replies P&ID

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has reacted to the publication credited to P&ID titled “AG Malami’s Abuse of the U.S. Courts.”

P&ID had accused Malami of paying lip service to rule of law by abusing diplomatic protocols and Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT).

They said the MLAT “allows Attorney General Malami to send requests to the United States Department of Justice. The Department of Justice can then evaluate the request and, if it accords with due process and the U.S. Constitution, a federal prosecutor may seek a subpoena to gather evidence. Nigeria has circumvented this established diplomatic process, and is instead directly pursuing evidence from U.S. citizens and companies on U.S. soil. Despite now making two separate requests to the U.S. Courts to seek exactly the sort of evidence that it could pursue through the MLAT, Nigeria has neither explained why it could not pursue evidence through the MLAT, nor whether DOJ has in fact already rejected such a request.”

They added that “Nigeria’s deviation from this system cuts out this protection entirely, leaving U.S. citizens and others vulnerable to such abuse at the hands of AG Malami and his collaborator, Ibrahim Magu at the EFCC, both well-known violators of human rights, according to the U.S. Department of State and numerous civil society organisations the world over.”

P&ID further accused Malami of misleading US Courts adding that “the true purpose of Nigeria’s fishing expedition in the U.S. was not to obtain evidence for use in Nigeria, but rather to obtain ammunition for attacking P&ID’s arbitration award both in the English Commercial Court and in its broader publicity campaign against P&ID.”

In a response made available to TheNigeriaLawyer (TNL) through Kirsty, the counsel working with Nigeria in their ongoing legal battle against P&ID, the AGF said the statement by P&ID and VR Capital is an attempt to obstruct the ongoing investigation in the US and also take advantage of Africa’s vulnerability to strip Nigeria of its assets.

“It is telling that P&ID and VR Capital have time and again attempted, and failed, to either delay or obstruct Nigeria’s ongoing investigations in the US. If P&ID and VR Capital have nothing to hide, they should have nothing to fear. Their obstructive moves speak volumes.

“P&ID and VR Capital are clearly abusing the very rules they claim should be upheld: by fashioning a scam deal; by knowingly exploiting a flawed arbitration system; and by literally raising funds to invest in litigation that will strip Nigeria of our assets and our future. This is, unfortunately, yet another example of Western businesses taking advantage of Africa’s vulnerabilities.

The expansion of our investigations into P&ID to the US is part of Nigeria’s bigger goal to stamp out corruption. It is our duty as government to pursue all available legal avenues. We are firmly committed to overturning the injustice of the multi-billion award – no matter how long it takes.”

Malami further gave background of the US discovery applications and therefore concluded that it is misleading for P&ID to suggest that Nigeria must pursue MLAT, it is at best an option.

“The decision to subpoena VR Capital and ten US banks is not without justification. The banks are likely to have processed US dollar transactions connected to P&ID’s operations, while VR Capital will have conducted due diligence that is highly relevant to the ongoing investigation into the scam when they acquired a stake in P&ID two years ago.

“The evidence gathered will support ongoing investigations into the payment of bribes to former government employees, and help demonstrate that the GSPA was born out of fraud and corruption.

“It is misleading for P&ID to suggest that Nigeria should have pursued the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty first – while the option is available, governments are free to pursue any legal avenue they deem suitable.” Malami said