By Valentine Amanze
Nigerian government through the Presidency has thumbed up the judgment by the United Kingdom (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.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), Mr. Garba Shehu, made the commendation in a statement on Saturday.
The presidency stated that the judgment was right, just and provided a strong prima facie case that the fraudulent gas deal with P&ID and the subsequent judgment debt of $10 billion against Nigeria was an attempt to cheat the country of billions of dollars by a company that had not invested in the country.
On the arbitration award, it stated that it was 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.
‘‘There is also a strong prima facie case that the (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.’’
The presidency however expressed delight with the processes that led to the outcome in the English Court, stressing, “It has given relief to the Nigerian government to further protect our national assets from criminally-minded organisations and individuals.”
It pointed out that the views of the UK court provided sufficient grounds for the Federal Government of Nigeria to go ahead and challenge the frauds perpetrated by the company and overturn the arbitration award.
According to the presidency, President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria has therefore commended the team of lawyers, who represented Nigeria in the matter with P&ID, and reassured Nigerians and the international community of his commitment to fight corruption in all its forms and manifestation.
