A UK Court has ordered Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) Limited to compensate Nigeria with £20 million as damages following Nigeria’s successful defense against an $11 billion judgment debt.
The court mandated the payment to be made to Nigeria within the next 28 days.
This disclosure of the £20 million damages was part of a consequential ruling in London, assessing the aftermath of the October judgment.
The court proceedings also considered whether P&ID would be granted permission to appeal the case.
Despite P&ID’s attempt to take the matter back to arbitration, the Court denied permission, citing the company’s reprehensible conduct during the process as the basis for the judgment.
Nigeria had sought to reclaim at least £20 million from P&ID to cover its damages and legal expenses.
Nigeria had in October, received great relief as the UK court set the country from its entanglement in the $11bn judgment debt previously awarded in favour of P&ID Limited.
In a judgment delivered by Justice Robin Knowles of the Commercial Courts of England and Wales, in the case between the Federal Government of Nigeria and P&ID, the court had upheld Nigeria’s prayer that the gas processing contract was obtained by fraud.
In the judgment delivered after five years of legal battle, Judge Knowles had said: “In the circumstances and the reasons I have sought to describe and explain, Nigeria succeeds on its challenge under section 68. I have not accepted all of Nigeria’s allegations. But the awards were obtained by fraud and the awards were and the way in which they were procured was contrary to public policy.
Recall that P&ID had agreed with Nigeria in 2010 to build a gas processing plant in Calabar, Cross River State, soith of the country, but the company said the deal collapsed because the Nigerian government did not fulfil its end of the bargain.
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