P&ID Must Forfeit All Assets to Nigeria

The Nigerian Federal High Could has convicted a number of individuals who were arraigned on allegations of fraudulent involvement in 2010, in a contract between the Nigerian government and an Irish firm – the Process and Industrial Development (P&ID). The charges, read out in court, related to money laundering, abuse of office and economic sabotage.

The court has ordered the firm to forfeit all its assets to the Nigerian government.

The suspects are Muhammad Kuchazi, said to be a commercial director with P&ID incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, and Adamu Usman, who was described as a director of the firm in Nigeria. Both accused represented their firms, the court ruled.

The EFCC commenced an investigation into the contract between Nigeria and P&ID following a British court ruling that Nigeria owed the Irish firm about $9 billion for violating terms of the contract. The contract for gas supply and processing (GSPA) was signed by the administration of late President Umaru Yar'Adua and P&ID.

Nigerian paper Premium Times reported how the agreement was designed to fail as key elements necessary for its success was missing. A three-member arbitration panel that reviewed the contract had ruled against Nigeria and ordered the government to pay the firm $6.6 billion as damages.

A British court last month ruled against Nigeria's objection to the 2017 arbitration.

The money with interest has now accumulated to about $9 billion (approximately N3.24 trillion), over one-third of Nigeria's 2019 budget.

The judgement was delivered by Justice Butcher of The High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts of England and Wales.

Nigeria has since condemned the ruling and said it suspects that various officials involved in the negotiations did so for pecuniary reasons.

Thursday's ruling is expected to give Nigeria a stronger bargaining chip in any negotiations with P&ID or in any related trial outside Nigeria.