Nigeria secured another victory against Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) in the UK court today as Sir Ross Cranston ordered it to make an interim payment of £1.5million to Nigeria.
The amount, to be paid within 21 days, is to cover the legal costs Nigeria incurred as part of a successful application for the extension of time to challenge the arbitration award and procedural hearing earlier in the year.
Both parties appeared in the English High Court today for a scheduled hearing of Nigeria’s case against the P&ID.
The hearing followed the major victory secured by Nigeria last Friday, allowing it to bring a fraud challenge against a $10 billion arbitration award obtained by vulture-fund-backed P&ID well outside the normal time limits.
The hearing on Thursday decided on procedural and costs issues relating to Nigeria’s applications to challenge the arbitration award, and to determine the short term directions to trial.
A case management conference to determine the full trial window is scheduled to take place after November 2020.
Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami in a statement through his spokesperson, Dr. Umar Gwandu, described the ruling as another crucial win for Nigeria.
“His is another crucial win for Nigeria in our ongoing fight against the vulture-fund-backed P&ID”, Malami said..
Please read his full statement:“The Federal Republic of Nigeria today (Thursday) appeared in the English High Court for a scheduled hearing.
“The hearing followed the major victory secured by Federal Republic of Nigeria last Friday (September 4), allowing it to bring a fraud challenge against a $10bnn arbitration award obtained by vulture-fund-backed P&ID well outside the normal time limits.
“FRN will now proceed to a full fraud trial. The hearing today was held to decide procedural and costs issues relating to the FRN’s applications to challenge the arbitration award, and to determine the short term directions to trial.
“Cranston J ordered P&ID to make an interim payment of more than £1.5 million within 21 days to cover legal costs the FRN incurred as part of their successful application for the extension of time to challenge the arbitration award and procedural hearing earlier in the year.
“A case management conference to determine the full trial window is scheduled to take place after November 2020.”
“We are pleased that the English courts have taken our fraud challenge seriously, and awarded us a substantial interim payment in respect of our successful application for an extension of time to challenge the award.”
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK