P&ID:UK judgment provides sufficient ground to overturn $10 bn award – Presidency

ABUJA, Nigeria – The Federal Government of Nigeria has hailed the judgment of the U.K court granting an extension of time and relief from sanctions in a  $10 billion arbitration case with Process and Industrious Development Limited (P&ID) in Nigeria.

In a statement, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu said the judgment provides sufficient grounds for the Federal Government to go ahead and challenge the fraud perpetrated by the company and overturn the arbitration award.

“Presidency welcomes the judgment by the UK Court granting Nigeria’s application for an extension of time and relief from sanctions in a $10 billion arbitration case with Process and Industrious Development Limited (P&ID) in Nigeria”, he said, adding “in our view, the judgment is right, just and provides a strong prima facie case that the fraudulent gas deal with P&ID and the subsequent judgment debt of $10 billion against Nigeria was a clear attempt to cheat the country of billions of dollars by a company that had not invested one Naira in our country”, Garba Shehu said.

On the arbitration award of $10 billion in favour of P&ID, he said it is a source of huge satisfaction that the UK Court, among others, had ruled that:

‘‘Nigeria has established a strong prima facie case that the Gas Supply and Processing (GSPA) was procured by bribes paid to insiders as part of a larger scheme to defraud Nigeria.

Read also, STABIC IBTC FLOATS SCHOLARSHIP FOR NIGERIAN UNDERGRADUATES

‘‘Nigeria has established a strong prima facie case that the Gas Supply and Processing (GSPA) was procured by bribes paid to insiders as part of a larger scheme to defraud Nigeria.

‘‘There is also a strong prima facie case that that (P&ID) main witness in the arbitration, Mr Quinn, gave a perjured evidence to the Tribunal, and that contrary to that evidence, P&ID was not in the position to perform the contract’’, he said.

According to him, “the Presidency expresses delight with the processes that led to this outcome in the English Court, noting that it has given relief to the Nigerian government to further protect our national assets from criminally-minded organisations and individuals.

“The views of the UK court thus provide sufficient grounds for the Federal Government to go ahead and challenge the frauds perpetrated by the company and overturn the arbitration award”, he said.