FG team in four-hour talks with lawyers – TheNigerialawyer

The Federal Government team in London on Sunday held a marathon
meeting with Nigerian and foreign lawyers as part of a broader
effort to secure a judgment overruling the verdict of a United
Kingdom court asking Process and Industrial Developments Limited to
seize $9.6bn in Nigerian assets.

The meeting, which lasted for about four hours, was held inside
the Nigerian High Commission in London.

The Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN),
who is the leader of the delegation, disclosed this in a telephone
interview with reporters on Monday while giving an update on their
mission in the UK.

The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed; Inspector-General of
Police, Mohammed Adamu; the Governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele; and the acting Chairman of the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, are part of the
delegation.

Malami said the government took briefings from both the Nigerian
and foreign lawyers towards “developing strategies targeted at
setting aside the ($9.6bn) award.”

He however did not give details of the decisions reached.

He said, “It is simply that we held a meeting with both Nigerian
and international legal teams at the High Commission in London.

“At the meeting, we took briefings from the teams in Nigeria and
the UK for the purpose of developing strategies targeted at setting
aside the award.

“The meeting started at about 6pm and ended at about 11pm on
Sunday.

“We had a series of engagements with Reuters and Financial Times
and others today (Monday), where we elaborated on the antecedence
relating to the contract and entertained questions from the
media.”

Malami on Sunday said the Federal Government was considering all
options in its efforts to ensure that the earlier judgment was
nullified.

The minister said this while answering questions on whether the
government would be filing a new case based on the latest
developments, especially the conviction it secured against the firm
in Abuja on Thursday, or would build on the previous judgment.

He said, “All our cards are on the table, but it all depends on
the one that has the potency of setting aside the award regarding
the applicable law in the circumstances.”

Meanwhile, a civil society group, Kingdom Human Rights
Foundation International, on Monday filed a suit before the Federal
High Court in Abuja challenging the 2010 Gas Supply Processing
Agreement which led to the $9.6bn judgment delivered against
Nigeria by a British court.

The suit came days ahead of the Thursday’s proceedings of the UK
court where Nigeria’s legal team would appear to challenge the
controversial verdict.

The group alleged in the suit that, the agreement between the
Ministry of Petroleum Resources and Process and P&ID was
fraudulent, illegal, “and was conceived, signed and executed in
complicated falsehood and misrepresentation and in total breach of
the procurement law”.

The plaintiff, through its lawyer, Kingdom Okere, also alleged
that “the contract was designed to fail, and therefore constitutes
an act of economic sabotage against the Federal Government of
Nigeria and the people of Nigeria”.

The case had yet to be assigned to a judge and the respondents
had yet to respond to the suit as of the time of filing this report
on Monday.

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