A United Kingdom court has stopped the enforcement of the $11 billion arbitration award earlier given in favour of Process & Industry Development (P&ID) Limited against the Federal Government of Nigeria.
In a judgment delivered by email, Robin Knowles, justice of the Commercial Courts of England and Wales, upheld Nigeria’s prayer on the ground that the ill-fated gas processing contract was obtained by fraud.
A private arbitration tribunal had on January 31, 2017 ordered Nigeria to pay $6.6 billion to P&ID plus interest beginning from March 20, 2013.
With the interest rate fixed at seven percent amounting to $1 million a day, the potential payment had accumulated to $11.5 billion before the verdict.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has applauded the judgment rendered by Judge Robin Knowles of the Business and Property Court in London, awarding a landmark victory to Nigeria against P&ID Limited.
He commended the UK Court for prioritizing the merits of the case above all other considerations.
Judge Knowles’ dismissal of the $11.5 billion 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.
In a statement issued shortly after the judgement, Tinubu said: “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.”
