- Calls for reversal of ‘fraudulent’ judgement
The Coalition of Civil Society Groups and affiliated Organisations, are set to picket the British and Irish Embassies for one week, over the $9.6bn judgment by the UK court instituted by P&D Irish company.
The Secretary General of Coalition of Civil Society Groups, Abubakar Ibrahim, who made this known in a memo with the subject: Invitation for Protest, on Friday in Abuja, stated that the protest will commence on the 2nd of September.
According to Ibrahim, the protest is going to be massive because they are all displeased with such a fraudulent judgment, adding that those behind the “huge corruption must be brought to book”.
The memo read: “The President has directed that all Executive members and affiliated organizations from all States, should return back to Abuja for a national duty that will be taking place on 2nd of September, 2019.
“You are hereby directed to be in Abuja latest on the 1st of September, for the 2nd of September, 2019 protest during which we will occupy British embassy and Irish embassy for one week, with a call for reversal of the $9.6 billion fraudulent judgment by the UK court instituted by P&ID Irish company against our beloved nation.”
The case involves a 2010 deal in which the Nigerian government agreed to supply gas to a processing plant in Calabar that P&ID; a firm founded by two Irish businessmen specifically for the project, would build and run.
In 2012, P&ID took the government to arbitration over the failure of the deal and won the award, which was based on what it could have earned during the 20-year agreement.
Persecond News recalls that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, had said the apex bank did not have any record that Process and Industrial Developments Ltd invested any money in the country.
This came after the Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P$ID) recently won a suit in the judgement delivered by a court in the United Kingdom, granting it the right to seize $9.6bn in Nigerian assets.
The CBN Governor, who disclosed this at a Press conference in Abuja, described the contract leading to the judgment as a “fraudulent contract” between the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and P&ID.
Emefiele noted that, contrary to its claims in the media, the foreign firm did not invest any money on the contract in Nigeria.
He said: “We have heard and also read in some media that P&ID or the contractor in this case had mentioned that it had invested close to about $40m in the project.
“On our part as the Central Bank of Nigeria, we note that P&ID is a foreign company.
“As a foreign company, if you are investing either in a contract or a project in Nigeria, there are various options you will adopt in bringing in your investment.
“If you are bringing in capital, in which case you are bringing in the money, you will fill Form A and you will also collect a certificate of capital importation.
“If you are bringing in machine or assets to execute your contract, then in this case you will fill Form M and also collect a certificate of capital importation to prove that you actually brought in money.
“We have gone through our records, we do not have any information in our records to show that this company brought in one cent into this country.”
However, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government has expressed its readiness to challenge the UK court’s $9.6bn judgment in a United States of America’s court in order to protect Nigeria’s interest and its assets.
Leave a comment