JPMorgan Chase has prevailed in a $1.7B U.K. court case against Nigeria regarding its role in a disputed 2011 oilfield sale, Reuters reported Tuesday.

The civil case pertains to Nigeria’s sale of the offshore OPL 245 oilfield to Shell and Eni in 2011. Nigeria had alleged that JPMorgan was “grossly negligent” in following instructions from authorized government officials to transfer funds paid by the energy companies into an escrow account to a company closely associated with the country’s former oil minister Dan Etete.

Nigeria alleged that JPMorgan violated its Quincecare duty, which requires banks to disregard a customer’s instructions if following them might result in fraud against that customer. The London High Court judge, though, said in a ruling Tuesday that no such breach occurred.

Nigeria was seeking in damages the amount of cash sent to Etete’s company, Malabu Oil and Gas — ~$875M, plus interest, amounting to more than $1.7B.

“huge setback in the fight against corruption”

“a free pass to banks who choose to ignore financial crime.”

                                               Helen Taylor, a legal researcher at Spotlight on Corruption.

The license to OPL 245 had been awarded by Nigerian military ruler Sani Abacha in 1998 to a company Etate owned. Later Nigerian administrations challenged the rights to the field for years until an agreement was reached to sell the field to Shell and Eni.

“This judgment reflects our commitment to acting with high professional standards in every country we operate in, and how we are prepared to robustly defend our actions and reputation when they are called into question.”

                                                                         Patrick Burton, a JPMorgan spokesperson.

In 2020, Shell and Eni won the dismissal of a $1B bribery lawsuit related to the OPL 245 license.