SAN FRANCISCO, September 06, (THEWILL) – Former Attorney General of Lagos State, Olasupo Shasore who was legal counsel to the Nigerian government at a court of arbitration in the case filed by P&ID, has defended his actions.
The former President of Lagos Court of Arbitration has been accused of having compromised and worked against the interest of Nigeria while the case was in arbitration.
In a statement signed by Shasore on Saturday, he said he is disappointed that the case made against him hinged on false statements. He described the federal government’s position as spiteful personal attacks on his professional conduct and reputation.
Shasore insisted that he only represented Nigeria during the determined liability stage of arbitration even when the government he represented did not cooperate with him to provide documents and witnesses in the case.
He said, “I am relieved that the corrupt and fraudulent foundation of this case is affirmed in the recent ruling, though I am disappointed that part of the case made for that result was a case against me based on demonstrably false statements, unfounded innuendoes and spiteful personal attacks on my professional conduct and reputation. I was instructed in this matter and accepted the instructions on behalf of my firm and to the knowledge of my partners in late 2012 and I made every effort to defend and vindicate my client at every stage with very few tools and with minimal support from within the government itself.”
Shasore said, “I represented Nigeria up until the liability stage in the arbitration. I did not represent Nigeria in the damages stage of the arbitration. Which means I was not involved when the huge sum of damages was awarded against Nigeria. The complete records will show the series of steps that I took to defend Nigeria and the several results, which I secured in that effort at various stages.”
He said none of these was consistent with the unfounded allegations that I failed to present the best available defence.
“With very little or no cooperation from relevant government officials at the time, I filed a jurisdiction objection that potentially could and should indeed have terminated the case in favour of Nigeria because it was clear to us from the beginning that the contract was a scheme against Nigeria,” he said.
Shasore said that he put up the best defence with very little or no cooperation from relevant government officials.. “When the then Nigerian officials failed to supply documents or any witness to defend their case, I fought liability by enlisting the support of the legal adviser of NNPC who gave evidence to the best of his knowledge when everyone else with knowledge, refused to do so. I instructed the UK firm of Stephenson Harwood, a respected international arbitration team and a leading Barrister, to attempt to set aside the award on liability in England. We overcame numerous hurdles and faced a hostile tribunal, which relied on the testimony of a principal witness who had died before the hearing and whose testimony should have been discounted. It is on record that I fought hard for the tribunal to dispense with that evidence”, he added.
Expressing his happiness over the recent judgment against P&ID, Shasore said “the falsity of that testimony has now been recorded in the High Court in England. Indeed this was the ground on which I took the matter to the Federal High Court in Nigeria, which was the proper seat of the arbitration and successfully obtained an order setting aside the liability award.
As part of efforts made, Mr Shasore added that he obtained an injunction restraining the parties and the tribunal from proceeding with the arbitration then.
Speaking on the legal fees, he stated that it was payment to two law firms and not exceptional or unusual in the context of such a dispute. “In fact, in order to extract the best possible case for Nigeria, it was from these fees that expenses were paid to ensure attendance at hearings and meetings in the UK by witnesses for Nigeria”, Shasore said.
He reaffirmed his commitment and professional integrity “to always act in the best interest of Nigeria, victimized by fraud and corruption.”
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