…okays FG’s plea
A United Kingdom Court on Thursday ruled in favour of Nigeria in its moves to overturn the US$9.6 billion judgment debt earlier awarded against it in favour of Process and Industrial Development Limited (P&ID).
The judgment is widely believed to be an injustice and a direct result of fraud and corruption.
The UK court had on Nov. 22, 2019, rejected the application of the Federal Government for extension of time to comply with the deposit of $200 million condition but indicated its readiness to accept a “satisfactory bank guarantee” as proposed by the Federal Government towards the end of the hearing on Friday, Nov. 22, 2019.
But on Nov. 25, 2019, the court ,while hearing the application for variation granted an extension of the stay till November 26, 2019, and subsequently to Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019, when it finally varied the condition for stay, pending the hearing of the appeal filed before the UK Court of Appeal by Nigeria against the enforcement of the award based on a fraudulent Gas Supply and Processing Agreement purportedly signed by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources during the tenure of now deceased minister, Dr Rilwanu Lukman and P&ID.
In a positive step for Nigeria, the United Kingdom Commercial Court presided over by Justice Butcher on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019, accepted the application of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in its case against P&ID to vary the condition of the stay of execution of the enforcement order it had earlier granted P&ID.
Persecondnews recalls that the Federal Government had challenged the legality and validity of the GSPA both locally and in the UK where it is still contending that Nigeria is the seat of Arbitration.
The government had also insisted that no payment to P&ID could be made, as they are under active investigation for fraud and corruption.
So far, the court has approved Nigeria’s proposed bank guarantee as a variation to the previous order, saying its order must be complied with.
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