Shasore and his company, Middlesex Investments Ltd, faced a 14-count charge of money laundering before Justice Inyang Ekwo in November 2022.

During the recent proceedings, EFCC counsel Bala Sanga informed the judge that the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, directed the agency to withdraw the charge via a letter.

Shasore’s counsel, Olawale Akoni, did not contest the application. Consequently, Justice Ekwo granted the application and discharged the defendants.

The AGF’s letter addressed to the EFCC chairman was titled: “RE: Review of All Civil and Criminal Proceedings Between Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) and Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN).”

The letter dated November 23 with reference number DPPA/OLASUPO/345/23 informed the EFCC “that the above charges were being reviewed in the light of recent developments in Process & Industrial Developments Limited vs. The Federal Republic of Nigeria (CL-2018-000182) and The Federal Republic of Nigeria vs. Process & Industrial Developments Limited (CL-2019-000752).

“Consequently, you are hereby directed, according to the provisions of Sections 105(1) & 108(1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, to withdraw the said charges with immediate effect and revert to compliance promptly.”

Olasupo Shasore had previously represented Nigeria in the P&ID case, where the company won a $9.6 billion judgment against Nigeria in a British court.

The judgment, with accumulated interest, had risen to over $11 billion. The company claimed Nigeria failed to fulfil its contractual obligations for a gas processing plant in Calabar, Cross River State.

While the federal government accused Shasore of compromising the case in favor of P&ID, Justice Robin Knowles of the Commercial Courts of England and Wales ruled in Nigeria’s favor in the enforcement of the $11 billion P&ID Limited arbitration award.

The judge determined that the award against Nigeria was obtained through fraud and absolved Shasore of corruption allegations in the case.