The judgment of a High Court naming lawyers involved in an arbitration award under which Nigeria was ordered to pay a sum equal to its entire federal budget is to be sent to legal regulators.
Granting an application to overturn the $11bn award to oil and gas company P&ID on the grounds that it was ‘obtained by fraud’, the Honourable Mr Justice Robin Knowles said the case ‘sadly brought together a combination of examples of what some individuals will do for money’. The 140-page judgment follows an eight-week hearing earlier this year in which the government of Nigeria argued that it should not be required to honour the award.
Giving judgment in Federal Republic of Nigeria v Process & Industrial Development Ltd today, the judge said that Nigeria succeeded on its challenge under section 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996, though not all of its allegations were accepted.
In an endnote, the judge lambasted individuals who were ‘driven by greed and prepared to use corruption; giving no thought to what their enrichment would mean in terms of harm for others’.
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