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AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

He agreed to accept funds from Shell and Eni in collectively amount to [an instance of the bank]
exchange for giving up his claim and surrender- triggering and then breaching” its duty of care
ing the asset to the Nigerian government so that to a client.
the IOCs could buy it in 2011. By the time JPMorgan Chase & Co. trans-
The Nigerian side had complained in its suit ferred the funds into Etete’s escrow account in
that the US bank acted with gross negligence in 2013, Cockerill said, it was “on notice” that there
depositing funds in Etete’s escrow accounts and was a risk that the transaction carried the risk
did not conduct sufficient due diligence when of fraud. She stressed, though, that this hazard
investigating the OPL 245 deal, which was was not significant enough to prove the Nigerian
negotiated in 2011, two years before the pay- federal government’s claims. “There was a risk
ments were made. However, Sarah Cockerill, but it was, on the evidence, no more than a pos-
the presiding judge in the London high court, sibility based on a slim foundation,” she wrote.
ruled that Abuja had not shown sufficient proof Abuja had also filed suit over the Malabo deal
of having been defrauded. in Italy, seeking to recover more than $1.1bn
“[It] may be that with the benefit of hind- from Eni and Shell and asking for Eni’s CEO
sight, JP Morgan would have done things dif- Claudio Descalzi to be put in jail. But in March
ferently,” she wrote in the ruling. However, she 2021 a court in Milan ruled in favour of the com-
continued, “none of these things individually or panies and against the Nigerian government. ™

EU inks deal with Egypt, Israel to

secure long-term gas supplies

EGYPT THE European Union (EU) has signed a Mem- “With this agreement, we will work on the
orandum of Understanding (MoU) with Egypt stable delivery of natural gas to the EU from the
and Israel with the aim of securing the stable East Mediterranean region,” she tweeted shortly
delivery of natural gas to the bloc based on the after the ministerial meeting of the East Med-
principle of market-oriented pricing. iterranean Gas Forum (EastMed), where the
“This is a historic day for the EU’s energy deal was reached. “This will contribute to our
engagement & energy security: signing the EU energy security, and we are building infra-
MoU with Egypt and Israel, two reliable, strate- structure fit for renewables -- the energy of the
gic partners,” tweeted Kadri Simson, EU Com- future.”
missioner for Energy, following the signing on The dispatching of such a high-level EU del-
June 15. egation underlines the significance of securing
The MoU was signed between the ministers energy supplies from the underexploited giant
of energy of Egypt and Israel in the presence of natural gas fields of the eastern Mediterranean
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the Euro- as the bloc seeks to find alternative sources to
pean Commission. replace Russian gas.

Signing ceremony for MoU in Cairo (Photo: European Union)

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 24 15•June•2022