The Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, United Kigdom, has granted Nigeria’s application for an extension of time and relief from $10billion sanctions awarded against it in a case against Process and Industrial Developments, P&ID.
Recall that on January 31, 2017, a tribunal had ruled that Nigeria should pay P&ID $6.6 billion as damages, as well as pre- and post-judgment interest at 7 percent.
The current outstanding amount is estimated at $10 billion.
The Federal Government had approached the court to establish that the contract was awarded on illegal terms.
Delivering the judgement on Thursday, the judge, Ross Cranston, however, said “it is not my function at this preliminary stage to decide whether a fraud took place”.
“However, it has been necessary to consider a considerable amount of the material to decide firstly, whether, as Nigeria contended, there is a prima facie case of fraud and how strong that case is, and secondly, the steps Nigeria took to investigate the alleged fraud from late 2015.
“Both matters are relevant to the issues of whether Nigeria’s claim is barred altogether and whether time should be extended in its favour and relief from sanctions granted,” a report by TheCable quoted Mr Cranston as saying.
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