One of the shareholders in Process & Industrial Development (P&ID), the company locked in a legal battle with Nigeria over a failed gas contract, has asked an American court to revoke the summons served it to answer questions on the $9billion compensation awarded P&ID over the failed project.
VR Advisory Services, an asset manager registered in Cayman Islands, is said to possess 25 per cent stake in the capital of P&ID and is trying to avoid being questioned by Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
Nigeria had on May 14 secured the right to summon VR and its subsidiaries to appear in court to provide documents concerning its acquisition of P&ID stock.
An arbitration court in London had awarded $9 billion to P&ID as compensation for the failed contract to build the gas facility in Cross River State.
But Nigeria is questioning the authenticity of the failed project, which it insists was a fraud organised with the collaboration of some past Nigerian government officials.
In moving to stop the summons, VR Advisory Group held that Nigeria could make use of the American-Nigerian mutual legal assistance treaty and not ask the American judiciary for access to confidential information.
The company is said to be run by London businessman, Richard Dietz and Americans, Jeffrey Johnson and Ashok Raju who are expected to reply to Malami’s questions and supply the requisite documents.
