The federal government is seeking documents from 10 banks, including
Bloomberg reported that the federal government has asked a Federal Court in
The politicians were in office when the state signed a contract with
"There is good reason to believe that ministers at the highest level were involved in a corrupt scheme to steal money from
The saga became a full-blown crisis for
A spokesman for P&ID denied wrongdoing, saying Malami has "manufactured a claim of fraud and bribery" to evade the state's legal obligation to pay what amounts to about 30 per cent of the country's foreign reserves.
Malami's application is "nothing but an absurdly overbroad fishing expedition," P&ID said in an
However, Jonathan has not been informed of the application, his spokesman said.
Malami didn't respond to a request for comment about the court proceedings when contacted by Bloomberg.
But the federal government is seeking the bank documents as part of an internal investigation into the contract and the arbitration proceedings.
The findings would form the basis of the
P&ID "had no ability or intention of ever performing" the contract, which required the company to build a gas processing plant and the government to supply it gas, Malami said.
The 10 institutions are likely to have processed
United States' District Judge,
The court, however, hasn't decided whether to give
The country's request may run into opposition from the banks.
The federal government is seeking documents from lenders, including Citigroup and
EFCC is probing the roles of two former oil ministers, late Dr.
Lukman allegedly signed the contract while Alison-Madueke was accused of "flagrant mishandling" of the government's arbitration strategy until 2015, the federal government said.
However, EFCC has not yet found "direct evidence" the politicians received payments from P&ID or its affiliates, the country said in its court filings.
Malami's application "is wild speculation and no evidence exists" to back it up, P&ID said.
A lawyer for Alison-Madueke, in a separate EFCC investigation, said he had not been briefed on the government's application to the US court, while another lawyer for the former petroleum minister did not respond to calls and messages.
Although Malami did not mention Jonathan as a subject of the EFCC probe, the former president appears alongside the ex-ministers in
The request includes "all documents, concerning any transactions to, from, or for the benefit" of Jonathan and his wife between 2009 and the present day.
I Have No Account or Property Abroad, Says Jonathan
Reacting to the report that the federal government has subpoenaed bank records for former
The statement issued by his spokesman, Mr.
The statement also recalled that on
"We are confident in stating that between that time and now, nothing has changed with regards to Dr.
The statement also recalled that during his tenure as President of
"Finally, we state that the signing of the P&ID contracts preceded the Jonathan administration, and that government gave appropriate counsel to the incoming government in the handover notes of 2015, which advice, if carried out, would have prevented the current unfortunate circumstances," the statement added.
With Agency Report
Copyright This Day. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com)., source