President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, delivered a speech at the General Debate of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, USA,
Where he said that the Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID) contract with the Nigerian government was a scam aimed at cheating the country of billions of dollars.
The president also gave notice to “international criminal groups” through what he called “the vigorous prosecution of the P&ID scam” which attempted to cheat Nigeria of billions of dollars.
It was the first time President Buhari was publicly speaking on the matter. Buhari in his “National Statement” as the fifth speaker on the first day of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA74), alerted the world of the magnitude of the $9.6 billion scandal, which is now a subject of litigation in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, alongside 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 in London developing strategies aimed at setting aside the award of $9.6b to P&ID.
READ ALSO: Senate receives MTEF, FSP documents from Buhari
President Buhari said his administration was tackling corruption head-on. The president, who said major tech companies must be alive to their responsibilities, added that they would not be allowed to continue to facilitate the spread of religious, racist, xenophobic and false messages capable of inciting whole communities against each other, leading to loss of lives.
“Organised criminal networks, often acting with impunity across international borders present new challenges where only collective action can deliver genuine results.
“This is true in the battle against violent extremism, against trafficking in people and drugs and against corruption and money laundering.
“The present Nigerian government is facing the challenges of corruption head-on,” he said.
It was reported that a British judge had ordered the Nigerian government to pay $9bn in assets to P&ID.
The firm had earlier reached a deal with the Nigerian government in 2010 to build a natural gas plant – but the deal collapsed two years later. P&ID thereafter took the Nigerian government to court for allegedly failing to provide the gas or install the pipelines it promised to build while signing the contractual agreement.
In one of its prayers granted by Justice Christopher Butcher, the company claimed that if executed, the project would have given birth to “a state-of-the-art gas processing plant to refine natural gas that Nigeria would receive free of charge to power its national electric grid.”
The firm was first awarded $6.9 billion (£5.4 billion) in 2014, but the London court added $2.4 billion in interest.
If the British court judgement stands, P&ID would go home with an equivalent 20 per cent of Nigeria’s declared foreign reserves of $45 billion.
READ ALSO: Police: Improved funding key to ending money-for-bail syndrome – Security stakeholders
But a Federal High Court in Abuja last week convicted and subsequently ordered the winding up of P&ID Nigeria Limited, for charges of fraud and tax evasion.
While P&ID Limited incorporated in British Virgin Island was represented in the dock by its Commercial Director, Mohammad Kuchazi, P&ID Nigeria Limited was represented by Adamu Usman, who is also a lawyer.
Among other charges, they were accused of fraudulently claiming to have acquired land from the Cross River State Government in 2010 for the gas supply project agreement which led to the $9.6 billion judgment.
EFCC investigator, Usman Babangida, gave testimony before the court after the representatives of the firm pleaded guilty to all the 11 count charges. While urging the court to convict them according to their plea, the prosecuting counsel Bala S. Sanga presented to the court statements of account showing massive withdrawals of dollars, some running into as much as $700,000 and some of which established the violation of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, as well as the law on Advance Fee Fraud.
He revealed that contrary to the impression sold by P&ID that it was established in Calabar, the company did not as much as acquire land for an office structure.
