BREAKING: UK Court Grants Nigeria Leave To Appeal $9.6bn Judgment

A British court has granted Nigeria leave to appeal the judgment granting Process & Industrial Development Limited (P&ID) approval to seize Nigeria’s assets worth $9.6bn.

The development was confirmed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who is the leader of the Nigerian legal team in London.

Other members of the team are: Annne Akwiwu and Oyin Koleosho, all from the Federal Ministry of Justice, Bala Tsanga, Rotimi Oyedepo, Special Counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, S.K. Salam-Alada of the Central Bank of Nigeria and two other counsel, Timi Balogun and Bradley Doline.

The team departed Nigeria on Monday to London to brainstorm and proffer solution for a legal breakthrough for Nigeria following the imposition of the fine.

Recall that P&ID was granted the right to seize some $9 billion in assets from the Nigerian government over a failed project to build a gas processing plant in the southern Nigerian city of Calabar.

The case had been heard variously at the United States District Courts of Columbia, the United States Court of Appeal, as well as the Business and Property Courts of the United Kingdom until the verdict.

The British judge who delivered the ruling, said that P&ID “can take 20 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign reserves.”

The figure was calculated based on what the company was estimated to have earned over the course of the 20-year agreement.

In reaction, the Nigerian government had described the contract as a scam which was aimed at depleting the nation’s foreign reserves.

“We are doing everything possible and we are very optimistic that we will escape any embarrassment of attachment of the country’s asset as a result of this dubious award.

“The federal government has taken all necessary steps to ensure that no property of the country is attached by any court.

“Government will leave no stone unturned, legally and diplomatically to ensure that our asset will not be affected as a result of the judgment,’’ the minister of communications, Lai Mohammed had said.

Last week, a Federal High Court in Nigeria ordered the firm to forfeit all its assets to the Nigerian government.

The court also convicted a commercial director with P&ID incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, Muhammad Kuchazi and director of the firm in Nigeria, Adamu Usman on allegations of fraudulent involvement in the 2010 contract after they pleaded guilty to an 11-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, warned that Nigeria would not tolerate attempts by persons and organisations to defraud the country.

Speaking at the General Debate of the ongoing 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Buhari had said, “The present Nigerian government is facing the challenges of corruption head-on.

“We are giving notice to international criminal groups by the vigorous prosecution of the P&ID scam attempting to cheat Nigeria of billions of dollars.”