UK Court has dismissed allegations of corruption against Olasupo Shasore and criticised the Nigerian government’s attempt to cast aspersions on the integrity of the senior lawyer. Olasupo Shasore, a lawyer for the engineering and project management company Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID), has been cleared of corruption charges in the case brought by the company against Nigeria.
On 23 October, Justice Robin Knowles of the Commercial Court of England and Wales said that with the evidence produced before him, Shasore, 59, a former attorney general of Lagos State, had not “in my judgement, been shown to be corrupt
P&ID had obtained a $6.6 billion judgement against the Nigerian government in 2017 at a private arbitration tribunal. The firm accused the government of failing to honour a contract it signed with P&ID in 2010 for a gas processing plant in the South-South state of Cross River.With interest added to the outstanding amount at the tribunal’s verdict, the judgement sum against the Nigerian government ballooned to $11 billion.The government challenged the decision, arguing that P&ID obtained the contract through dishonest means.Additionally, the government argued that the engineering company bribed its own lawyers – Shasore being one of them – in the course of their arbitration.
According to the government, Shasore, Nigeria’s lead lawyer in the arbitration, colluded with two other lawyers whom he bribed with $100,000 apiece to ensure that billons of dollars were awarded to P&ID.In 2022, Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arraigned Shasore before a federal court in Lagos over allegations of money laundering. The government arraigned the lawyer and his company, Middlesex Investments Ltd, before a state court over further money-laundering charges.Shasore denies any wrongdoing.
The government’s allegations ignited a public outcry against Shasore with accusations that he was unpatriotic. Local newspaper PM News wrote that he ‘betrayed Nigeria’s trust and let down his nation…’.
In a statement he released at the height of the personal attacks, Shasore insisted that he represented Nigeria in the arbitration to the best of his ability. He said he did so ‘with very few tools and with minimal support from within the government itself’.
Not guilty
Justice Knowles in his judgement on Monday dismissed P&ID’s $11 billion damages.
He, however, maintained that Shasore’s actions during the arbitration were inconsistent with the Nigerian government’s theory that he worked against its interest.
“First, his advice to Nigeria to investigate, and allow expert evidence to be obtained, and to proceed in a timely fashion, was sound and constant,” the judge said.
“Second, he assisted Nigeria to succeed in its applications to the Nigerian court. Third, his participation in the various settlement discussions helped reduce the figures.”
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