The Irish company, P&ID
trying to make Nigeria Nigeria poorer with a charge of $billion on national
assets said the country should hold . Attorney General, Abubakar Malami
responsible.
It blamed Malami’s inaction and
dilly dallying for the turn of events and not even past governments as Nigeria
had ample time when Buhari took over to settle matters, when the reparation
costs stood at just $850m.
In a statement today that it said
was its effort to set the record straight, P&ID chastised Malami for trying
to revise history and introducing allegations of contract fraud.
Read the full statement:
Malami’s Revisionist History
It is another day, and with it
comes another attempt from the Nigerian Government to create a fictional
history of the P&ID case.
This week’s series of desperate
conspiracy theories point to something deeper: the Buhari Administration is
refusing to admit its own role in the P&ID case from 2015-2019 after it
came into office.
Appearing on CNBC Africa,
Attorney General Abubakar Malami sought to wipe his hands and the hands of the
Buhari Administration clean when he stated, “[t]he government as a unit was
delicately involved. And that was the government in 2010, the award was in
2012, and then three years thereafter the current administration under the
leadership of Muhammadu Buhari came into place. So the time when this
administration came to place in 2015, the award was over three years, there was
no appeal, no application for execution, no application to set the award
aside.”
Attorney General Malami seems to
have a case of amnesia.
Let’s set the record straight:
May 3, 2015: P&ID offers to
settle the dispute with the Nigerian Government for $850mm. President Goodluck
Jonathan indicates they are handing over the negotiations to the incoming
Buhari Administration.
May 29, 2015: Muhammadu Buhari is
sworn in as the 15th President of Nigeria, but fails to appoint a cabinet for
five months.
July 17, 2015: The Arbitration
Tribunal found in favor of P&ID (i.e. – the Liability Award). The new
Buhari Administration did not make any attempts at settling or negotiating with
P&ID, and did not make any effort to challenge the decision.
November 11, 2015: Attorney
General Malami was sworn in November 11, 2015, just under three months after
the Liability Award.
May 27, 2016: The Arbitration
Tribunal wrote to the Nigeria Government confirming that: “As the parties will
be aware from Procedural Order No 12, the Tribunal has decided that the seat of
the arbitration is England. It follows that the Federal Court of Nigeria had no
jurisdiction to set aside its Award.” Neither Attorney General Malami, nor any
representative of the Buhari Administration did anything in response other than
continue with the proceedings, thereby tacitly accepting the analysis of the
Arbitration Tribunal.
June 24, 2016: Having failed to
set aside the Liability Award by falsely claiming the seat of arbitration was
in Nigeria; not England, Attorney General Malami wrote personally to the
arbitrators to say “my office has taken over the handling of the above
arbitration on behalf of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.” He asked for and
obtained an extension of time to file a defence to quantum, and appointed his
own legal team in place of the Ministry of Petroleum Resource’s legal team.
August 30-31, 2016: The Quantum
Hearing (i.e. – amount of damages payable) takes place in London. Attorney
General Malami’s legal team conducted Nigeria’s defence at the quantum hearing.
Expert witnesses as to quantum were called to give evidence and were
cross-examined.
After the Quantum Hearing,
Attorney General Malami instructed his lawyers to request a standstill
agreement, which would take effect from the date of the Award.
This fact has never been publicly
reported until today.
January 31, 2017: The Arbitral
Tribunal issued a final award, ordering Nigeria to pay P&ID $6.5 billion
plus $2.3 billion in uncollected interest as of March 2018.
February 17, 2017: The Award on
Quantum was delivered to the parties on February 17, 2017. Despite the 60-day
standstill having been agreed by P&ID, Attorney General Malami made no
attempt to negotiate with P&ID during the 60 days following the handing
down of the Quantum Award.
April 28, 2017: After the 60 days
had expired, Attorney General Malami instructed his lawyers to write to
P&ID’s lawyers and explained that “The delay was occasioned by the
bureaucracy of the Federal Government in a bid to determine a reasonable
strategy after receipt of the Arbitral award.” The Attorney General’s lawyers
added: “we now have the authority of the Vice President of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria to meet with the Claimant to negotiate the Terms of the Arbitral
award.”
Today: In the lead up to the
judgment by the English Commercial Court, Attorney General Malami allowed the
time for acknowledging service in both the United States and London to lapse
without filing any response. In both jurisdictions, Nigeria’s lawyers Curtis
Mallet had to apply for ex post facto extensions of time and make the necessary
apologies and explanations to the court.
In London, a senior Curtis Mallet
partner explained that the Claim Form was “immediately filed and not passed up
the chain of command” at the Ministry of Justice. The partner pleaded that “the
delay was neither deliberate nor intended to be disrespectful to the Court.”
In the US, Curtis Mallet
explained that the deadline was missed because they were in the process of
being formally retained by the Nigerian Government and had been instructed to
enquire about the potential for a settlement
The Attorney General’s
pronouncements in the Nigerian press are a clear attempt to cover up his own
incompetence and that of the Buhari Administration. This is a matter, which
could have been settled shortly after he took office in November 2015 for $850
million. Instead, he personally took the decision to gamble on the arbitration
and turned an $850 million liability into a $9.6 billion liability.
And at no time since has Attorney
General Malami assumed responsibility has he raised any allegation of fraud or
scam, either in the arbitration or in the subsequent enforcement proceedings.
The reason for this is that there was no fraud. All of this raises serious
concerns for foreign investors in Nigeria, whether you are investing in a
commercial enterprise or buying Eurobonds. Not only will Nigeria deliberately
refuse to pay an international arbitration award backed by an English Court,
but they are prepared to launch sham investigations and character
assassinations when all else fails.
This is a serious assault on the
Rule of Law by a demonstrably dishonest administration.
Meanwhile, P&ID is now
focused on vigorously enforcing its legal rights in the UK, including seizing
Nigerian assets to satisfy the award. This will begin as soon as possible.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com