Nigeria charges British citizen over alleged complicity scam

LAGOS: Prosecutors in Nigeria on Thursday filed fresh charges against James Nolan, a British citizen, over his alleged complicity in the 9.6 billion U.S. dollars judgment against the west African nation.

The charges are the latest in the ongoing case involving Process and Industrial Development (P&ID), an Irish engineering company, and the Nigerian government following the non-execution of a 20-year gas and supply processing agreement between the two.

A British court ruled in mid-August that the British Virgin Islands-based firm has the right to seize 9.6 billion dollars in Nigerian assets due to cancellation of the agreement by the Nigerian government. Ekele Iheanacho, counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), told Justice Okon Abang at the Federal High Court in Abuja, that the anti-graft agency had filed an amended charge.

The lawyer said the EFCC is now bringing up a 32-count charge against the defendants in the case contrary to the initial 16-count charge bordering on money laundering.The EFCC had on Oct. 21 arraigned Nolan and Adam Quinn, both British nationals, over their alleged complicity in the 9.6 billion dollars judgment against Nigeria.