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The eight-week trial in a British court where Nigeria asked for the massive arbitration award in favor of Process & Industrial Development Ltd., backed by hedge funds, to be thrown out, has concluded.
According to Bloomberg on Friday, the $11 billion UK trial that could cost Nigeria a third of its foreign reserves included claims of six-figure bribes, dubious middlemen, and fabricated evidence.A verdict has not been reached on the matter.
The arbitration award that Nigeria is contesting is over a collapsed gas project.
On this issue, no decision has been made. Nigeria is contesting an arbitration decision related to a failed gas project.
The lawyers for the oil and gas company argued that the contract between P&ID and Nigerian government officials is not "a story of fraud," but rather Nigerian "institutional incompetence," according to legal news source Law 360, which was present in court.
FG countered that the firm had obtained the contract through dishonest means, specifically bribery. The $6.6 billion arbitration award, which was made public in London in 2017, has since grown to $11 billion with interest. If the award is upheld and subsequently enforced, attorneys working on the case could earn as much as $825 million. According to Law 360, Mark Howard KC and Tom Pascoe of Brick Court Chambers, Philip Riches KC of Twenty Essex, Sebastian Mellab and Tom Ford of Essex Court Chambers, all under the direction of Mishcon De Reya LLP, are representing the Federal Government.
The defendants are represented by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, whose team was led by Nick Marsh, Ted Greeno, and Marina Boterashvili, as well as David Wolfson KC, Henry Hoskins, of One Essex Court, and Alexander Milner KC, and Max Evans of Fountain Court Chambers.