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Nigeria has won a major victory in its bid to overturn an $11 billion arbitration award in favour of Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID).
In a judgment delivered by email on Monday, 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. [caption id="attachment_13263" align="alignnone" width="1140"]
Nigeria defeats P&ID at UK Court. Photo: Punch[/caption]
This victory follows over five years of legal battles between the Nigerian government and the firm.
Recall that in January 2017, a private arbitration tribunal ordered Nigeria to pay $6.6 billion to P&ID plus interest beginning from March 20, 2013.
With the interest rate fixed at seven per cent, amounting to $1 million a day, the potential payment accumulated to over $11 billion, Business Day reports.
Based on this new evidence called ‘seismic’, Nigeria filed fraud challenges against P&1D, but the company has failed to respond to the charges.
“It is increasingly clear that this was a highly orchestrated scam, involving a cover-up by ministers at the highest levels of office in the previous administration,” says a spokesperson for the attorney general.
“These officials, who were entrusted to safeguard the future and assets of Nigeria, knowingly entered into the sham GSPA, and deliberately failed to defend the Federation in the ensuing arbitral proceedings,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Nigeria may seek more dollar loans, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The IMF noted that the naira is under pressure, and its value has been declining, even following exchange rate reforms implemented by President Bola Tinubu.
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