In a bid to overturn the $9.6 billion awarded against it in favour of British firm, Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID), Nigeria has launched a bid for the extradition of the co-founder of Mr. Brendan Cahill and son of the founder, Mr. Adam Quinn, over their roles in the arbitral award.
Nigeria is seeking the help of Irish law enforcement and the U.K.’s National Crime Agency, for the extradition of Cahill and Quinn to face trial in the country, according to a report wednesday by the online edition of THE IRISH TIMES.
Meanwhile, Nigeria is also seeking a probe of Allied Irish Banks, with a claim that it has evidence of two bank transfers by P&ID, amounting to $20,000, to a former Director, Legal Services of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Grace Taiga.
Taiga is currently on trial for allegedly conniving with the company in a bid to defraud the country.
Both parties to the Gas Supply and Processing Agreement (GSPA), under which Nigeria is to supply wet gas to a plant to be built in Cross River State by P&ID for processing to generate electricity, are locked in a legal battle over Nigeria’s alleged default for which the company got a $6.5 billion arbitral award, which has now ballooned to $9.6 billion due to interest, for loss of future earnings from the project.
Recall that a British commercial court had on August 16 affirmed P&ID’s right to seize $9.6 billion in Nigerian assets to recoup the arbitral award.
The legal battle resumes today in London where Nigeria is set for a spirited combat to stop the British court from finally granting P&ID’s request to seize its assets, which amount to about 20 per cent of its foreign reserves.
