Malabu Scandal: UK Court Rules In Favor Of Nigerian Government

British judge ruled on Friday that up to $85 million from the notorious Malabu oil deal should be returned to the Nigerian government.
 
This is the first money to be successfully recovered from the $1.1 billion sales of the fantastically rich offshore oil block, OPL245, that has been mired in corruption allegations and legal trench warfare for years.
 
The sale, which was brokered by the then-government of Goodluck Jonathan in 2011, supposedly resolved a long-running contest for the block between oil giant Shell and shelf company Malabu, beneficially owned by former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete.
 
Mr. Etete effectively awarded the oil block to himself when he was oil minister in 1998, but only walked away with the money for it 13 years later after Shell and Italian oil company ENI paid the Nigerian government for the block.
 
The government paid $801.5 million to Malabu, but not before $215 million was restrained by the UK Commercial Court after an Etete associate brought a case claiming their share.
 
The $85 million is what remains in the UK courts funds office after years of legal wrangling.
 
The counsel for the Federal Republic of Nigeria argued alone before the judge, ‎Justice Cockerill, on Friday after Malabu failed to attend the hearing.
 
Faisal Osman, counsel for the Nigerian government, told the court that Malabu had not responded to legal correspondence for more than a year after another British judge had dismissed Malabu’s earlier legal bid to unlock the $85 million.
 
After the UK Crown Prosecution Service gave its consent to release the funds to the Nigerian government last month, the judge agreed that she was “entirely satisfied” to grant the order.
 
“The money in question is the money of the Nigerian people,” Mrs. Cockerill concluded.
 
The Nigerian government’s legal arguments were prepared by UK law firm Verdant Solicitors and Lagos law firm Johnson and Johnson.
 
Nigeria’s solicitor general, Dayo Apata, attended the court hearing and said: “We are very happy about this ruling. It has been a long road but there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
 
Nigeria’s attorney general, Abubakar Malami, had in October announced that his country had received the $85 million. But it appears that announcement was made in anticipation of Friday’s court ruling after the UK Crown Prosecution Service indicated to Mr. Malami’s office that they would not oppose a claim against the release of the money.

Mr. Malami was not available for comments on Saturday to clarify whether the money had actually been released before the Friday ruling. He did not return calls, but a short message to his mobile phone.
 
However, it is understood that Friday’s court ruling paves the way for the money to be released to the Attorney-General’s office within days.
 
A further amount of around $100 million proceeds from OPL245 remains frozen by the Swiss authorities and is understood to be another target for Nigeria’s legal team. - Premium Times

Facebook just admitted that using Facebook can be bad for you

• 
  
• Facebook said on Friday that there are certain use cases of the social network that can be bad for your health.
• It also found that some use-cases can be positive, specifically social interaction, and said it's going to work to improve those features.

FacebookFB admitted on Thursday that using its social network can be bad for you in some instances.

Facebook's director of research David Ginsberg and research scientist Moira Burke published a post in which they addressed questions about the impact Facebook has on our moods, and revealed some compelling information.

"University of Michigan students randomly assigned to read Facebook for 10 minutes were in a worse mood at the end of the day than students assigned to post or talk to friends on Facebook," the blog post said. "A study from UC San Diego and Yale found that people who clicked on about four times as many links as the average person, or who liked twice as many posts, reported worse mental health than average in a survey."

In other words, if you're using Facebook to mindlessly browse through your feed or click posts, you may end up in a foul mood after. 

Facebook also worked with Carnegie Mellon University for additional insight, and found that "people who sent or received more messages, comments and timeline posts reported improvements in social support, depression and loneliness." Likewise, Facebook said students at Cornell who used Facebook for 5 minutes while viewing their own profiles saw "boosts in self-affirmation," while folks who looked at other profiles did not.

In other words, using Facebook to interact with people -- as opposed to just "browsing" as the University of Michigan study analyzed -- seemed to have a positive effect on people.

Facebook's blog post follows criticisms from former Facebook exec Chamath Palihapitiya, who said recently that social networks such as Facebook are "starting to erode the social fabric of how society works" and that they're "ripping apart" society.

Palihapitiya has since walked back those remarks.Facebook says it's going to take this data and work to encourage more social interaction among users in an effort to cut down on those who spend it to waste time and, ultimately, feel worse after. - CNBC

Read how to spot a cash point card skimming device

It's Christmas shopping season and most of our credit and debit cards will be taking a hammering at the checkout and the ATM.

But while you splash the cash on friends and family, take care to make sure your hard-earned pennies aren't being pinched by criminals.

Photographs showing how card skimming devices are used on cash machines have been distributed by police in an attempt to guard against fraudsters .

The devices read information from an inserted credit or debit card allowing the perpetrator to clone the card and make their own cash withdrawals.

South Leicester Police have shared photographs of such devices on Facebook to alert the public to look more closely at cash machines, particularly in the run-up to Christmas, the Burton Mail reports.

The alert comes as officers discovered both cash machines, in Bell Street, Wigston, had been fitted with card skimming devices, and members have been shocked to see how normal these devices look.

The Facebook post, which accompanied the photos, said: "THIS CHRISTMAS BE AWARE WHEN GOING TO ATM MACHINE. please share.

"Out on foot patrol checking ATM machines. Run up to Christmas.

"Found that both ATM machines, in Bell Street, Wigston are fitted with card skimming devices.

"Both ATM machines are now out of service.

"Please check ATM before using it. Photos below to look out for skimming device on ATM."

"The device is located where you insert your card into the machine.

"In one image you will see this has been added to the ATM and not part of the actual machine."

The police also pointed members of the public in the direction of a web site.

This web link has more details of what to look out for. - Mirror UK