P&ID : UK court throws out $11bn damages bill against Nigeria
A London court has thrown out an $11bn damage bill against Nigeria lodged by Process & Industrial Developments Limited Gas Company.
By this judgement ,Nigeria is off the hook the damages over a collapsed project that was procured by bribery, according to Reuters report.
Nigeria was faced with having to pay the sum – representing around a third of its foreign exchange reserves – to P&ID, a company based in the British Virgin Islands.
But the High Court ruled in October that P&ID paid bribes to a Nigerian oil ministry official in connection with the gas contract signed in 2010, and failed to disclose this when it took Nigeria to arbitration over the collapse of the deal.
The ruling was a major boost for Nigeria, which is saddled with mounting debt, high inflation and unemployment.
P&ID argued that the case should be sent back to arbitration, but Judge Robin Knowles ruled on Thursday that the award should be thrown out immediately.
The judge also refused P&ID permission to appeal, effectively ending the case as the company cannot apply for permission from the Court of Appeal.
A London-based spokesperson for the Nigerian government said the decision “marks the conclusion of a historic victory for the people of Nigeria”.
