London-based iNHouse Communications, representing Industrial Development Limited (P&ID) has kicked against a US court ruling giving Nigeria access to legal dements to defend $9.6 billion judgement debt awarded against the country.
” Nigeria’s “efforts to seek information on a crime that never occurred from a party that was never involved with P&ID until years after the alleged events is prima facie evidence that it has no case at all. The claim that P&ID deliberately concealed documents by destroying them is totally false,” the firm said.
Nigeria has been running from pillar to post to overturn the $9.6 billion judgment debt awarded against it in favour of P&ID by a United Kingdom (UK) court.
Also, United States court has allowed Nigeria to request documents from VR Capital Group Ltd, the part owner of a company that received a $9.6 billion arbitration award the government is trying to overturn.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer ordered in New York that Nigeria can subpoena information from London-based hedge fund VR Capital, four subsidiaries and three of its directors.
The Federal Government had last month, sought documents from 10 banks, including Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase & Co., in a bid to overturn the judgement related to a business deal that the country contends is shrouded in allegations of corruption.
Nigeria asked a federal court in New York for permission to subpoena information about transactions involving government officials, including former President Goodluck Jonathan. The politicians were in office when the state signed a contract with Process & Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID), and later became involved in a costly dispute with the company.
EFCC plans to use the data in its probe of British Virgin Islands-registered P&ID and allegedly corrupt government officials.
A Cayman Islands-registered unit of VR Capital acquired a 25 per cent interest in P&ID about two years ago and will have conducted due diligence on the firm that is “highly relevant” to the ongoing investigation, according to a court filing submitted by Nigerian Attorney General Abubakar Malami on May 12.
Bloomberg report said the successful court application is part of Nigeria’s efforts to show that a 2010 gas-supply contract with P&ID was a sham designed to fail by the company and government officials. P&ID denies any wrongdoing, saying that Nigeria invented the allegations to evade its legal obligations.
The dispute between Nigerian government and P&ID became a crisis in August, when a U.K. judge ruled P&ID could enforce a 2017 arbitration tribunal’s decision that Nigeria breached the gas-supply contract. The resulting award now totals $9.8 billion including interest and is equivalent to about 30 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign reserves.
