The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has said that the UK court ruling ordering P&ID to release $200 million to the Nigerian government demonstrates the FG’s commitment to tackling fraud and corruption.
This was said in a statement released by Malami on Tuesday evening after the judgment was issued by the London Court.
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Nairametrics reported that a London Commercial Court had ordered the release of a $200 million guarantee as security to be paid to the Nigerian government in the P&ID $10 billion Arbitral Claim, as reported by the CBN in a statement.
“Nigeria’s Foreign Exchange Reserves was this morning boosted by over $200Million when the London Commercial Court ordered the release of the $200Million guarantee put in place as security in respect of the execution of the much discredited P&ID $10 Billion Arbitral Claim,” CBN said.
Malami stated that “We are glad having this victory in addition to multiple successes recorded so far.”
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He added that the recent judgment on Nigeria’s cases against P&ID demonstrated an outcome of strong commitment and determination of the present Federal Government to tackle fraud, corruption, non-compliance with the due process.
Malami praised the efforts of the FG, especially due to the fact that an order for the extension of time to challenge award and agreement was essential to the court judgment that enabled Nigeria to challenge the order for cash deposit of $200m to bank guarantee.
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He also cited successes like payment of the legal cost of €1.5m in favour of the country, the Court Order to the release of bank guarantee in favour of the Federal Government of Nigeria, award of payment of €70,000 to Nigeria as further legal cost relating to the issue.
On January 31, 2017, an arbitration tribunal had ruled that Nigeria should pay P&ID, the sum of $6.6 billion as damages and breach of contract after a 2010 deal for a gas project in the Niger Delta part of Nigeria collapsed. The pre and post-judgment accrued interest of 7% has seen the amount standing against Nigeria, rise to almost $10 billion, an amount that would have caused a serious dent on the country’s external reserve.
