The Federal Government has won a judgement in $11 billion suit involving Process & Industrial Developments, P&ID Limited in London court.
Justice Robin Knowles of Business and Property Court in London delivered the judgement in the case between Nigerian Government and P&ID Limited.
The judgement upturns decision of January 31, 2017 London tribunal that asked Nigeria to pay P&ID $6.6 billion as damages, as well as pre-and post-judgment interest at 7%.
On January 31, 2017, a private arbitration Tribunal ordered Nigeria to pay $6.6 billion to P&ID plus interest beginning from March 20, 2013.
Following the judgement, Nigeria applied for an extension of time and relief from sanctions.
The application was granted by Ross Cranston, a judge of the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, in September 2020.
Recall that Nigeria had alleged that the gas deal was a scam conceived to defraud the country.
Lawyers representing the Federal Government of Nigeria told the court that P&ID officials paid bribes to secure the contract.
But, P&ID denied the allegation and accused the Nigerian government of “false allegations and wild conspiracy theories.”
In 2010, P&ID had entered into an agreement with Nigeria to build a gas processing plant in Calabar, Cross River state, but the company said the deal collapsed because the Nigerian government did not fulfill its end of the bargain.
The company approached a London court claiming Nigeria breached the terms of the contract, and subsequently secured an arbitral award against the country.
A private arbitration tribunal ruled that Nigeria should pay P&ID $6.6 billion as damages, as well as pre-and post-judgment interest at 7 percent.
However, the Federal Government appealed the judgement alleging that the contract was secured through dishonest means that included bribery and perjury and that the arbitration award, which has now risen to $11 billion because of interests, should be quashed.
In his ruling, Justice Knowles upheld Nigeria’s prayer on the ground that the ill-fated gas processing contract was obtained by fraud.
The court held that the agreement signed by the Federal Government of Nigeria and P&ID was an overall fraudulent enterprise.
“I am satisfied P&ID did intend to perform the GSPA when it entered into it, and that there were means by which it could have done so. Nigeria has characterised the GSPA as a sham and contended that P&ID as a BVI-registered company with no obvious assets, no relevant experience and few employees, had no genuine intention of performing the GSPA, and would never have been able to do so.
“Whilst P&ID was prepared to bribe in the course of its business, I do not accept it was of the sophistication to conceive at the contract stage a plan to extract large sums of money from Nigeria by means of an arbitration or a corrupt settlement.
Consistently, P&ID did not use the GSPA to move directly to arbitration at the first available opportunity.
“I have no hesitation in concluding that Nigeria suffered substantial injustice… And that is even before taking into account what P&ID did with Nigeria’s Internal Legal Documents,” the judge added
He subsequently held that the awards were obtained by fraud and the Awards were and the way in which they were procured was contrary to public policy.
“I have concluded that when the parties entered into the GSPA, P&ID’s intention was to perform and not simply use the GSPA as a device to get an award or settlement,” he ruled.
Tinubu applauds Nigeria’s landmark victory
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has applauded Monday’s judgement by Judge Robin Knowles of the Business and Property Court in London, awarding a landmark victory to the Federal Government of Nigeria over a firm known as Process & Industrial Development (P&ID) Limited.
Following Judge Knowles’ dismissal of the $11.5 billion (USD) value of the award plus accumulated interest, previously won by P&ID over a failed 2010 deal to allegedly build a gas processing plant, on the grounds that the award was obtained by fraud, President Tinubu commended the UK Court for prioritizing the merits of the case above all other considerations.
“This landmark judgment proves conclusively that nation states will no longer be held hostage by economic conspiracies between private firms and solitarily corrupt officials who conspire to extort and indebt the very nations they swear to defend and protect.
“Today’s victory is not for Nigeria alone. It is a victory for our long exploited continent and for the developing world at large, which has for too long been on the receiving end of unjust economic malpractice and overt exploitation.
“Nigeria is appreciative of the tremendous efforts of the defense team and acknowledges the role of the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Attorney-General in the process of defending Nigeria’s interest in this case,” the President added according to a statement by Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
