Nigeria had moved to nullify the arbitral award of $9.6 billion made in 2017 in favour of P&ID but had ballooned to $11 billion for an alleged breach of a gas supply and processing agreement.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have lauded the decision of the UK commercial court dismissing a fraudulent $11 billion arbitration award in favour of P&ID.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, described the judgement as a "decisive victory for the people of Nigeria."
Nigeria had been embroiled in a legal tussle with Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) over a $9 billion judgement, which has now risen to $11 billion.
The bogus contract never kicked off but the obscure British Virgin Islands-based P&ID took Nigeria to arbitration, leading to a long-drawn legal battle that led to the $11 billion liability for Nigeria.
Reacting to the outcome of the British court proceedings, on Monday, Mr Fagbemi described the judgement as "historic."
Nigeria had moved to nullify the arbitral award of $9.6 billion made in 2017 in favour of P&ID but had ballooned to $11 billion for an alleged breach of a gas supply and processing agreement.
According to the contract, P&ID purportedly entered into an agreement with the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources for the establishment of a gas processing plant in Calabar.
The Minister of Justice said the court found that the company "obtained the award only by practising the most severe abuses of the arbitral process."
He recalled the journey as a tortuous journey for Nigeria as the country's assets across the globe risked being taken away by P&ID "with attended dire consequences for Nigeria and its people."
Referencing the views of Nigeria's lead lawyer in the case, Mark Orwell Casey, the minister said, "P&ID was exactly the type of entity that was prepared to engage in bribery to achieve its aim to undermine the administration of justice in Nigeria..."
"This successful result is a decisive victory for the people of Nigeria, who stood to lose over $11 billion and for the Nigeria administration, which has now reached a milestone in its mission to challenge the scourge of corruption.
"The judgement also serves as a damning indictment of predatory international investors, who should now rightfully be deterred from prying upon Nigeria and other developing nations to satisfy their greed.
"P&ID and its associates, both Nigeria and the world over, shamelessly attempted to defraud the country and enrich themselves through sharing the Federal Republic of Nigeria's privileged document, fraud, bribery and corruption on an industrial scale."
Background
The EFCC, in a statement by its spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, recalled on Monday that P&ID had claimed Nigeria violated the terms of its agreement by failing to provide gas for the power plant it wants to build for the country. "According to the firm, the alleged violation frustrated the construction of the gas project agreed to during the government of former President Umaru Yar'Adua and deprived P&ID of the potential benefits expected from 20 years' worth of gas supplies with "anticipated profits of $5 to $6 billion."
An initial out-of-tribunal agreement for the payment of $850 million was reached by a previous administration and the disbursement was passed on to the administration of President Muhammad Buhari.
Mr Buhari, however, baulked at the idea of paying the negotiated sum, set aside the settlement agreement and challenged the enforcement of the award before the English Commercial Court. But the London court added $2.4 billion in interest making it $9bn.
The judge granted Nigeria's request for a stay on any asset seizures while its legal challenge was pending, but ordered it to pay $200 million to the court within 60 days to ensure the stay. It also must pay some court costs to P&ID within 14 days. The decision of the court converted an arbitration award held by P&ID to a legal judgement, which would allow the British Virgin Islands-based firm to try to seize international assets.
Irked by the shadiness and hollowness of the claims of P&ID, Nigeria began investigating the company through the EFCC and found evidence of two bank transfers totalling $20,000 made by Dublin-based Industrial Consultants (International) Ltd. -- part of the P&ID group of companies -- to Grace Taiga, a Nigerian government lawyer who oversaw the award of the gas plant contract.
The EFCC, challenging the payments through its counsel, Bala Sanga, said the payments, in 2017 and 2018, were made from an Industrial Consultants account at Allied Irish Banks and were purportedly for "medical costs".
Based on this new evidence, which the EFCC considered to be "seismic", Nigeria filed fraud challenges against P&ID but the company has failed to respond to the charges.
Trials of key suspects allegedly involved in the fraud are ongoing at various levels of court in Abuja.
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Govt rebuffed P&ID's attempt to settle out of court
Mr Fagbemi disclosed that "several agents of P&ID made overtures even as of last week to the Federal Republic of Nigeria for settlement on this case."
He, however, said the President Bola Tinubu-led administration declined the overtures owing to its resolve to tackle corruption.
"The President at the opening ceremony of Nigeria Economic Summit Group retreated this cardinal position of his administration. History has been made today, as this judgment is no doubt significant in the annals of Nigeria and indeed Africa."
Mr Fagbemi warned anyone who might be "nursing or nurturing the plan to swindle the country" to have a rethink.
He attributed the successful prosecution of the suit to interagency collaboration in Nigeria.
The minister further said there would be further hearings concerning the judgement to determine "costs payable by P&ID and others in the matter."
Earlier, PREMIUM TIMES reported that Nigeria won its bid to overturn the $11 billion damages bill involving P&ID.
In its ruling on Monday, the UK court found that the botched contract was obtained by fraud.
