The court ordered that the payment be made before it can give a stay of execution on the ruling by Justice Butcher that P&ID could seize over $9bn worth of Nigeria’s assets pending its appeal in a higher court.
Nigeria’s Attorney-General, Abubakar Malami, on Wednesday said that the country had appealed a $200m payment imposed by a United Kingdom court in its contention with the controversial Process and Industrial Development LTD over a failed 2010 contract.
The court ordered that the payment be made before it can give a stay of execution on the ruling by Justice Butcher that P&ID could seize over $9bn worth of Nigeria’s assets pending its appeal in a higher court.
“We have appealed against the payment,” Reuters quoted Malami as saying.
Nigeria was given permission to appeal the seizure in September but was ordered to pay the $200m within 60 days.
The time frame expires next week.
In his statement however, Malami left out details of when the appeal was made and if any response had been received from the court.
In its appeal, Nigeria would have to prove there was an error in the previous ruling.
Malami said the nature of the appeal would necessitate the hiring of a new set of lawyers.
“We may decide to bring on board new sets of lawyers to handle the new brief but we may decide that the old and new lawyers should work together,” he said.
P&ID is owned by two Irishmen, Michael Quinn and Brandon Cahill.
A Bloomberg report detailed how Quinn conned the Nigerian Government in partnership with military officials and intended to use the gas processing contract as his big break.
Quinn had previously sued the Nigerian Government for two similar contract breaches like the case gaining media attention.