Quinn Emanuel loses to African government over fake documents

A recent ruling by a London court judge in the Process & Industrial Development Ltd. (P&ID) gas pipeline case is particularly noteworthy.

Quinn Emanuel bị thua Chính phủ một nước châu Phi do dùng giấy tờ giả - Ảnh 1. — Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID), a small business incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, to build a state-of-the-art gas processing plant in southeastern Nigeria

A judge in London has ruled that a contract between Nigeria and a little-known energy company was a fraudulent deal.

This is a new discovery in a years-long lawsuit that has left Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, facing a fine of up to $11 billion.

In 2017, an arbitration court ordered Nigeria to pay energy company Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID) $6.6 billion after the contract between the two parties was canceled, a compensation amount that has since increased with interest to $11 billion.

On Monday (23 October), the judge hearing the appeal at a London court said the judgments were "obtained by fraud" and "the manner in which they were made was contrary to public policy".

In 2010, P&ID won a contract to operate a natural gas processing plant, but the Nigerian government failed to build a pipeline to supply gas to the plant. P&ID filed a lawsuit in 2012 alleging breach of contract.

Five years later, a three-arbitrator panel in London awarded Nigeria $6.6 billion in damages, representing what P&ID claimed was the full value of the losses it suffered on the project.

This is one of the largest known reparations claims against a single country.

The court has yet to make a final decision on the legal consequences of Nigeria’s victory. Sir Robin Knowles, the judge in the case, said he wanted to hear more from both sides before deciding whether to set aside the original judgment or proceed with the trial.

Nigeria’s chances of overturning the original ruling were initially seen as slim, with its lawyers repeatedly missing deadlines to file appeals. But in 2020, Mr Ross Cranston, a judge at the London High Court, gave them more time to prove corruption allegations in the case.

He found that there were indications that Michael Quinn, one of the founders of P&ID, had made "false statements to the court" to "emphasize that P&ID was a legitimate business and was able and willing to perform the contract".

The size of the award against Nigeria has highlighted the role of London-based arbitration courts in resolving multibillion-dollar disputes. Monday’s ruling has highlighted concerns about the widespread use of arbitration, a secretive process, to resolve such high-profile cases.

“The facts and circumstances of this case are a unique but very real one, providing an opportunity to consider whether an arbitral tribunal, which is of such outstanding importance and value in the world , needs to be given more attention when the stakes are so high and when a country is involved,” Knowles said.

A Nigerian government spokesman described the ruling as a "historic victory" for the country.

“The blatant fraud perpetrated by P&ID has finally been exposed for all to see, despite their persistent efforts to thwart the passage of justice. Let this be a lesson to any party seeking to defraud the Nigerian people for their own benefit,” said a representative of the Nigerian government.

Nigeria believes that this ruling will draw a clear line in the sand, ensuring that any party that believes African countries are easy targets for exploitation will be forced to think again.

A lawyer for P&ID said the company was “considering possible steps” following the ruling. “While P&ID fully respects the judgment of the English Court, they are of course disappointed with the outcome,” said Nick Marsh, a lawyer at Quinn Emanuel, who is representing P&ID.

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