President Muhammadu Buhari has authorised the release of $200 million
in the $9.6 billion awarded against Nigeria in its case with Process &
Industrial Development (P&ID).
In September, Christopher Butcher, judge of a commercial court in
London, had ordered Nigeria to deposit the sum while granting the
countryโs request for a stay of execution in the case.
Online medium, The Cable had reported that Nigeria could still escape
the $9.6 billion fine if $200m was deposited in 60 days.
According to PUNCH, the federal governmentโs legal team confirmed the
approval of the $200 million payment during a hearing at the London
court on Friday.
โBefore Justice Butcher today (Friday) in London, the Nigerian legal
team acknowledged that President Buhari has authorised the steps to
provide a bank guarantee for the $200m in security that was ordered by
the English Court in September,โ the newspaper reported citing a
statement exclusively obtained from P&ID.
โMoreover, the following steps have already been taken by the Nigerian
Government: Ministry of Finance has received approval to proceed with
obtaining the bank guarantee; Minister of Finance has submitted a
request to the Central Bank of Nigeria to proceed with procuring the
bank guarantee; the Central Bank of Nigeria has submitted a request to
an unnamed foreign correspondent bank to issue the bank guarantee from
London and provide the relevant information to the court.โ
The statement added that Abubakar Malami, the attorney-general of the
federation (AGF), is trying to avoid the payment of $200 million. The
company said the witness statement presented by the AGF was not
credible.
โThe eleventh-hour gambit by Nigeriaโs Attorney General Abubakar
Malami to avoid paying the $200m in security to the English Court on
November 25 has failed,โ the statement read.
โThis is a major milestone and P&ID welcomes the outcome of todayโs
hearing in London. P&ID expresses hope that the Buhari administration
will now accept the reality of the Arbitration Tribunal Award and the
decision of the English Court โ and end the ridiculous sham
investigation and show trials conducted by the EFCC (Economic
Financial Crimes Commission) in recent months.
โAGF Malami presented a witness statement that is neither credible nor
believable and it impugns both the English court and the Arbitration
proceedings chaired by Lord Leonard Hoffman. The โevidenceโ cited by
Malami and others is based purely and exclusively on a
government-sanctioned campaign of harassment, intimidation and illegal
detention of a number of individuals associated with P&ID or the GSPA
contract. AG Malamiโs campaign has been nothing more than a blatant
perversion of justice and the rule of law.โ
Malami did not answer calls placed to his telephone. He is yet to
respond to a message seeking his reaction over the matter.
In September, Buhari had described P&ID as a scam attempting to cheat
Nigeria of billions of dollars.
