A United Kingdom Commercial Court on Tuesday ordered the release of the $200m used as security for the Process and Industrial Development $10bn arbitral award.
The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), and the Central Bank of Nigeria revealed this on Tuesday.
This came on the heels of a September 4, 2020 judgment of the UK court pointing out suspected cases of fraud in the process leading to the gas supply contract allegedly breached by Nigeria and the basis upon which the award was issued in favour of P&ID by a London arbitration panel in 2017.
The court also granted the Federal Government permission to challenge the final arbitral award.
The CBN stated in its official Twitter handle, @cenbank, that the court awarded a £70,000 cost in favour of Nigeria in addition to an earlier award of £1.5m.
It wrote, “Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves was this morning boosted by over $200m when the London Commercial Court ordered the release of the $200m guarantee put in place as security in respect of the execution of the much discredited P&ID $10bn arbitral claim.
“The court also awarded a £70,000 cost in favour of Nigeria in addition to an earlier award of £1.5m.”
The AGF in a statement by his spokesperson, Dr Umar Gwandu, said he was “glad having this victory in addition to multiple successes recorded so far.”
“The recent judgement on the Nigeria’s cases against P&ID demonstrated 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.
“Nigeria recorded tremendous success challenging the order for cash deposit of $200m to bank guarantee.
“Success was equally recorded for having an order for the extension of time to challenge award and agreement.
“Nigeria was successful as the court award payment of legal cost of €1.5m in favour of the country,” the statement reads partly.
