Economy

Malabu Scandal: Nigeria Secures First Victory against JP Morgan

Published

5 years ago

February 23, 2019

Eric

A High Court in London has dismissed a motion filed by U.S. firm, JP Morgan Chase, to halt its prosecution by the Nigerian government.

In a ruling on Thursday, the judge, Andrew Burrows, held that the American investment/finance firm “owed Nigeria a duty of care; as indicated by an implied term in the written agreement”.

“The duty of care was neither inconsistent with nor excluded by the terms of that agreement,” the court ruled.

The Nigerian government had sued JPMorgan over its alleged failure to block payments made from a massive oil deal that is subject to a string of international corruption investigations.

In the civil suit filed in 2017, the Nigerian government accused JP Morgan of “gross negligence” in the events that resulted in the transfer of the funds.

According to the suit, the Nigerian government demanded a refund of $875 diverted from the government’s account.

But while the trial was ongoing, JP Morgan filed its request seeking to stop the trial.

It did this on the grounds that Nigeria had no valid way of proving that the company’s actions resulted in the losses for which the suit was brought.

The London court said JP Morgan failed to establish that Nigeria had no realistic prospect of success in proving its allegation.

“On the causation of loss issue; the defendant bank has failed to establish that the claimant has no realistic prospect of loss,” it said.

The court also ruled that the issues raised by the Nigerian government were ‘clear enough’ for the alleged offence against JP Morgan.

“As regards the clarity issue on the correct interpretation of clause 10. 1 (a) in the depository agreement. The claim does not fail for clarity.

“My overall conclusion, therefore is that the defendant bank has failed to establish that the claimant has no real prospect success under CPR 24.4.

“For this reason, the application for reverse summary judgement under CPR 24. 2 fails.”

The court said the request to strike out the claim has ”consequently failed”.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has filed a separate $1.1bn legal claim against Shell and Eni to “recover the very significant sums lost to corruption and the unlawful activity” of the two energy majors. On its part, Shell and Eni have said their deal with the federal government was legal and that the payment was made to the state and they had no part to play in what happened to the money afterwards.

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Economy

Naira Makes More Recovery, Sells at N1,453/$1

Published

1 month ago

March 22, 2024

Eric

The Naira continued its appreciation at the official market on Thursday, March 21, 2024 to close at N1,453.28/$1, according to data from the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).

This represents an appreciation of N39.33 when compared to the N1,492.61/$1 it closed on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

The intraday high was N1,598/$1, while the intraday low was N1,300/$1, representing a wide spread of N298/$1.

Similarly, the Naira appreciated against the dollar at the parallel window to trade at N1,500/$1, this represents an appreciation of N20.00 as against the N1,520 /$1 it traded the previous day.

The Naira also appreciated slightly against the British Pound to trade at N2,000/£1 as against the previous trading day’s price of N2,020/£1 representing a gain of N20 for the local currency.

The Canadian dollar, however, closed flat against the naira to trade at N1,270/CA$1 same as the N1,270/CA$1 it traded the previous day representing a decline of N20 in the local currency.

The Naira gained N30 against the Euro to trade at N1,670/€1 as against the previous closing price of N1,700/€1.

Economy

Naira Gains Against Dollar, Trades at N1,603/$1

Published

1 month ago

March 13, 2024

Eric

The Naira, Tuesday continued its recovery against the American dollar as it traded at N1,603.38/$1, data from the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) window has shown.

This represents a gain of N15.48 when compared to the N1,617.96/$1 it closed on, on Monday, March 11, 2024.

The intraday high was N1,637/$1, while the intraday low was N1,425.35/$1, representing a lean spread of N211.65/$1.

Meanwhile, the Naira gained N12 against the dollar at the parallel market as the local currency appreciated to N1,603/$1 as against the N1,615 /$1 it traded the previous day. As it stands, the naira is trading at the same rate at both official and parallel windows.

The Naira, however, slumped against the British Pound to trade at N2,050/£1 as against the previous trading day’s price of N2,030/£1 representing a loss of N20 for the local currency.

After about two weeks of closing flat against the Canadian dollar, the naira slumped massively to trade at N1,300/CA$1 on Tuesday, representing a decline of N150 when compared to the N1,150/CA$1 it traded the previous day.

The Naira lost N35 against the Euro to trade at N1,740/€1 as against the previous closing price of N1,705/€1 representing a loss of N35 for the local currency.

Economy

Binance to Close Shop in Nigeria, Stops Transaction, Trading in Naira

Published

2 months ago

March 5, 2024

Eric

By Reuters – Binance will stop all transactions and trading in Nigeria’s local currency after March 8 amid a country-wide crackdown on crypto exchanges that have been blamed by authorities for feeding a black market for foreign exchange.

It will stop supporting withdrawals after Friday and any remaining balances in Nigerian Naira will be automatically converted into Tether – a stablecoin whose value is pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Last week, Nigerian authorities detained two Binance senior executives on undisclosed charges as part of the crackdown.

They were still in custody, their local lawyer said before a parliamentary committee on Monday.

Source: Reuters