A London court has rejected an application by Process & Industrial Development (P&ID) seeking permission to appeal the judgment that halted the enforcement of its $11 billion award against Nigeria.
In the judgment delivered on Thursday, presiding judge Robin Knowles ruled for the immediate dismissal of the award against Nigeria. The judge had earlier halted the enforcement of the award on October 23, upholding Nigeria’s argument that it was obtained through fraud and violated section 68 of the English Arbitration Act 1996.
Knowles found that P&ID had paid bribes to Nigerian officials involved in drafting the gas supply and processing agreement (GSPA) in 2010. He also determined that P&ID illegally possessed Nigeria’s privileged legal documents during the arbitration hearings.
Despite finding against P&ID, the judge had to choose from three options: remit the award to the tribunal for reconsideration, set aside the award in whole or in part, or declare the award to be of no effect, in whole or in part. On December 8, Knowles decided against sending the award back to the arbitration tribunal and crushed the award in its entirety.
Following this decision, P&ID sought permission to appeal the October 2023 judgment, arguing that the judge failed to apply a “causation” requirement and that privileged documents played no role in their victory at the arbitration. However, the judge, in the recent judgment on Thursday, denied P&ID permission to appeal, effectively concluding the case as the company cannot apply for permission from the court of appeal.
