High Stakes: Nigeria Braces for Verdict in $11bn P&ID Trial

The eight-week preliminary at a court in the Unified Realm where Nigeria mentioned the excusal of the enormous discretion grant for mutual funds upheld Cycle and Modern Improvement Ltd, has reached a conclusion.

In the $11 billion UK trial that could cost Nigeria a third of its foreign reserves, there were allegations of shady middlemen, six-figure bribes, and fabricated evidence.

The Federal Government is asking the UK High Court to dismiss the arbitration award in favor of P&ID as soon as possible in the case Nigeria v. Process & Industrial Developments Ltd., case number CL-2019-000752, in the King’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales.

During the trial, attorneys on both sides traded accusations of bribery, duplicity, and incompetence.

The issue has not been resolved to a verdict.

Nigeria is challenging the arbitration award based on a failed gas project.

Reports have it that the oil and gas company’s lawyers argued that the contract between P&ID and Nigerian government officials is not “a story of fraud,” but rather “institutional incompetence” on the part of Nigeria.

In the meantime, FG argued that the company had won the deal fraudulently; bribery.

In 2017, a $6.6 billion arbitration award was made in London, but it has grown to $11 billion with interest. If the award is upheld and then enforced, lawyers working on the case stand to earn more than $825 million.

The Federal Government is represented by Mishcon De Reya LLP-instructed attorneys Mark Howard KC and Tom Pascoe of Brick Court Chambers, Philip Riches KC of Twenty Essex, and Sebastian Mellab and Tom Ford of Essex Court Chambers.

David Wolfson KC, Henry Hoskins, and Alexander Milner KC, Max Evans, of Fountain Court Chambers, on behalf of the defendants, are represented by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, led by Nick Marsh, Ted Greeno, and Marina Boterashvili.