The Federal Government on Friday said its legal team appeared in the English High Court for a scheduled Case Management Conference (CMC) over its action opposing the arbitral award of $9.6billion to Process and Industrial Developments(P & ID) .
It said a timetable has been set to decide if Nigeria’s application against the award can be brought outside the normal time limits.
A statement by Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, who is the Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami(SAN), said P&ID has 28 days to respond to Nigeria’s application.
The statement said: “The CMC was held for the court to decide procedural issues relating to our application to set aside the arbitral award on the basis that it was procured by fraud and corruption.
“A timetable has now been fixed for a hearing to decide if our application can be brought outside the normal time limits.
“This is another positive milestone in the federation’s fight to overturn this award.
“Based on new and credible evidence discovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), it is increasingly clear that P&ID ‘contract’ was a highly orchestrated scam, involving a cover-up by ministers at the highest levels of office in the previous administration.
“These officials, who were entrusted to safeguard the future and assets of Nigeria, knowingly entered into the sham GSPA and deliberately failed to defend the federation in the ensuing arbitral proceedings.
“It is telling that to date P&ID have said nothing to rebut these allegations of fraud.
“These issues will now be before the court to consider in relation to the federation’s challenge to this award.
“P&ID has 28 days to respond to the application for the extension of the time to challenge the arbitral award. Thereafter, the court will set a date for hearing of the application”.
The Federal Government had on December 6, 2019, filed a new and substantive challenge in the English Court to overturn the injustice of the US$9.6 billion award.
According to the AGF, “the filing challenges both the underlying arbitral award and its enforcement and lodges a fresh appeal against the subsequent High Court judgment
“Based on new evidence that has come to light in recent investigations, it is clear that the original contract was a sham commercial deal and designed to fail from the outset. The fraud was only recently discovered as a result of President Buhari’s anti-corruption efforts spearheaded by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission”.
“The challenge argues that the Gas Supply and Processing Agreement (GSPA) was procured on the basis of fraud and corruption, while the subsequent arbitral process was riddled with irregularities and deliberately concealed from the rest of the government”.
