P&ID: UK court judgment relief to government, says Presidency

Shehu-Garba-new — Former SSA to the President on Media, Mr. Garba Shehu

The Presidency on Friday said the judgment by the United Kingdom court granting Nigeria’s application for an extension of time and relief from sanctions in a $10bn arbitration case with Process and Industrious Development Limited has given the Federal Government relief to further protect national assets from “criminally-minded organisations and individuals.”

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said this in a statement titled, ‘Presidency welcomes judgment by UK court on P&ID.’

In welcoming the judgment, Shehu said in the Presidency’s view, it was “right, just and provides a strong prima facie case that the fraudulent gas deal with P&ID and the subsequent judgment debt of $10bn against Nigeria was a clear attempt to cheat the country of billions of dollars by a company that had not invested one Naira in our country.”

The statement read in part, “On the arbitration award, it is 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 that (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 expresses delight with the processes that led to this outcome in the English Court, noting that it has given relief to the Nigerian government to further protect our national assets from criminally-minded organisations and individuals.

“The views of the UK court thus provide sufficient grounds for the Federal Government to go ahead and challenge the frauds perpetrated by the company and overturn the arbitration award.

“President Muhammadu Buhari, therefore, commends the team of lawyers who represented Nigeria in the matter with P&ID, and reassures all well-meaning Nigerians and the international community of his unwavering commitment to fight corruption in all its forms and manifestation.”