Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami
By Soni Daniel, Abuja
As a further victory for Nigeria over Process and Industrial Development Limited, the Commercial Court in London has ordered the return of the $200 million, which it asked Nigeria to deposit as a condition for the country to file appeal against the award of $9.6 billion in favour of the shadowy company, which claimed the huge amount for a failed gas processing contract against Nigeria.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who confirmed the refund of the money to Nigeria, expressed appreciation to the English court for the action, which has gone a long way to prove Nigeria’s position in the matter that the award claimed by P&ID was unjustified.
This is contained in a statement from Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice made available to Vanguard on Tuesday.
“We are glad having this victory in addition to multiple successes recorded so far,” the AGF was quoted in the statement as saying.
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“The recent judgment on the Nigeria’s cases against P&ID demonstrates an outcome of strong commitment and determination of the present Federal Government through the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to tackle fraud, corruption, non-compliance with the due process.
“Since the time the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice took over the coordination of the case, it has been a matter of success upon success,” the statement said.
It will be recalled that since the case started, the Federal Government has secured a stay of execution order against P&ID, stopped the deposit of $200 million as a condition to file the appeal, secured the extension of time to file its brief against P&ID, secured the payment of €1.5 legal cost against the company and another €70,000 legal cost in favour of Nigeria.
