By Daniel Edu
A London court has dismissed Process & Industrial Development’s (P&ID) attempt to appeal the judgment that halted the enforcement of its $11 billion award against Nigeria.
In a ruling on Thursday, the presiding judge, Robin Knowles, decided to immediately reject the award against Nigeria. Knowles had previously, on October 23, stopped the enforcement of the award, supporting Nigeria’s claim that it was obtained through fraud and in violation of section 68 of the English Arbitration Act 1996.
The judge concluded that P&ID had engaged in bribery of Nigerian officials involved in drafting the gas supply and processing agreement (GSPA) in 2010. Additionally, he found that P&ID had unlawfully obtained Nigeria’s privileged legal documents during the arbitration hearings.
Despite his findings, Knowles faced three options for action, which included either remitting the award to the tribunal for reconsideration, setting it aside in whole or in part, or declaring it to be of no effect. Nigeria advocated for the complete setting aside of the award based on the common law principle that “fraud unravels all.”
On December 8, Knowles announced his decision not to send the award back to the arbitration tribunal, choosing to invalidate the award entirely.
P&ID, however, sought permission to appeal the October 2023 judgment. Their lawyers argued that the judge failed to apply a “causation” requirement, which would have determined whether the arbitration award would have been made without P&ID paying bribes to government officials. They also contended that the privileged documents in P&ID’s possession had no impact on their success in arbitration.
In the recent judgment on Thursday, the judge denied P&ID permission to appeal, effectively bringing the case to a close, as the company is unable to seek permission from the court of appeal.
