The Federal Government of Nigeria has won its claims against Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) Limited.
A judgement delivered by Justice Robin Knowles of the Business and Property Court on Monday held that P&ID obtained its multi-billion-dollar arbitration award against Nigeria by fraud.
In 2010, P&ID had entered into an agreement with Nigeria to build a gas processing plant in Calabar, Cross River state, but the company said the deal collapsed because the Nigerian government did not fulfill its end of the bargain.
The company approached a London court claiming Nigeria breached the terms of the contract, and subsequently secured an arbitral award against the country.
The court ruled that Nigeria should pay P&ID $6.6 billion as damages, as well as pre-and post-judgment interest at 7 percent.
However, the Federal Government appealed the judgement alleging that the contract was secured through dishonest means that included bribery and perjury and that the arbitration award, which has now risen to $11 billion because of interests, should be quashed.
In his ruling, Justice Knowles upheld Nigeria’s prayer on the ground that the ill-fated gas processing contract was obtained by fraud.
