BLP Oil & Gas Update Creative Doc.pdf April 2014 | Page 5
The corporate background and trading history of any intermediaries
and traders linked to suspicious ship movement, ownership, registration
or payments; and
Intelligence held by Nigerian government agencies and departments.
If a pattern can be established that provides a reliable indication that certain
individuals, companies or banks have been involved in oil theft by receiving
and transmitting either stolen oil or the proceeds of that oil’s sale, then steps
can be taken.
For any entity or individual located in Nigeria, the domestic courts should be
engaged. For those based outside of Nigeria, government to government
engagement, criminal prosecution or civil action can be taken.
Government to government engagement and international criminal
prosecutions are protracted processes that would give the recipients of the
oil or its proceeds plenty of time to move assets and make themselves
judgment proof.
If, however, there is a link between the stolen oil or its proceeds and the UK,
then a civil claim can be made in Nigeria (where the theft occurred) with an
application in the English courts to support of those proceedings.
Deep freeze
There is a well-established practice in the English court providing such
assistance in the form of interim relief, such as orders freezing assets and
obtaining documents and information. Practical justice can be achieved
through the international co-operation of judiciaries.
The English court may refuse to grant the relief sought if it is inexpedient to do
so. It will be presumed practical to grant the relief if the respondent individual
or company is a resident or based in England and as long as an order
doesn’t interfere with the management of the case in the primary court.
“Practical justice can be achieved through the international co-operation of
judiciaries.”
English courts are more likely to step in if a matter involves fraud, with
worldwide freezing injunctions recently granted against defendants in US and
United Arab Emirates courts.