Nigeria has obtained approval from a US Second Circuit Court of Appeal in New York to obtain vital documents in its case challenging the award of $10billion to Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) Ltd.
A statement emailed to Daily Trust said the ruling would enable Nigeria’s legal team to discover more facts about VR Capital, which owns 25 per cent of P&ID.
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“The FRN remains dedicated to overturning the arbitral award, and will now proceed to a full trial of the issues where the FRN’s substantive application to finally set aside the award will be heard.
“The fraud trial will begin in London in January 2023,” the statement said.
Nigeria had in the challenge of the $10bn awards over a 2010 gas-supply contract insisted that the contract and the arbitral award were based on fraud and further submitted a claim that US courts did not have jurisdiction to enforce the award, as the Federal High Court of Nigeria had ruled so.
The statement added, “The recent move by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to reject this claim does not constitute a victory for P&ID. Instead, the Court of Appeals merely sent the case back to the District Court to consider the merits of P&ID’s enforcement action of the arbitral award.
“The FRN’s arguments before the D.C. Circuit make up only one aspect of its fight against the $10billion arbitration award, which is equal to 10 times the country’s annual health budget. The recent decision from the D.C. Circuit will not affect the FRN’s ongoing efforts, nor has it affected its chances of success.”
In September 2020, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), said a British court ordered P&ID to pay £1.5m to cover the legal costs incurred by Nigeria after the country successfully suspended the enforcement of the award on the grounds of fraud.
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