To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether officials of her Department have (a) met the Attorney General of Nigeria since January 2012, (b) had any conversations about the sale of the OPL 245 oil concession in Nigeria involving Shell and ENI with (i) the Attorney General of Nigeria and (ii) any other senior official of the Nigerian government and (c) received any requests for mutual legal assistance regarding the OPL 245 case.
Answered on
18 June 2014
Home Office Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of international partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public
and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of Ministerial meetings with external organisations and individuals are
passed to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis and are subsequently published on the Cabinet Office website which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=home-office&publication_type=transparency-data
The Metropolitan Police Proceeds of Corruption Unit is investigating complaints made about the case of oil block OPL-245 in Nigeria. As this is an ongoing
investigation we cannot comment further on this. We can neither confirm nor deny whether there have been discussions with the Attorney General of Nigeria,
or any other senior Nigerian government official regarding any specific criminal investigation or proceedings.
It is the usual policy neither to confirm nor deny the existence, content or status of any individual mutual legal assistance request.