Nigeria has secured a victory in its pursuit to overturn a $10 billion judgement awarded against it in a case against Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID).
In the judgment delivered on Thursday, Ross Cranston, a judge of the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, granted Nigeria’s application for an extension of time and relief from sanctions.
“It has been necessary to consider a considerable amount of the material to decide firstly, whether, as Nigeria contended, there is a prima facie case of fraud and how strong that case is, and secondly, the steps Nigeria took to investigate the alleged fraud from late 2015. Both matters are relevant to the issues of whether Nigeria’s claim is barred altogether and whether time should be extended in its favour and relief from sanctions granted,” the judge said in the ruling.
On January 31, 2017, a tribunal had ruled that Nigeria should pay P&ID $6.6 billion as damages, as well as pre- and post-judgment interest at 7 percent.
The current outstanding amount is estimated at $10 billion. The federal government had approached the court to establish that the contract was awarded on illegal terms.
Nigeria’s lawyers told the court in July that P&ID officials paid bribes to get the contract. P&ID reportedly entered a gas supply and processing agreement with Nigeria in 2010.