Business

Nigeria’s bid to nail P&ID in $9bn case suffers setback

Published

4 years ago

November 11, 2020

Nigeria’s bid to set aside the $9bn P&ID Limited’s arbitration award has suffered a setback as VR Capital Group Limited has secured a United States’ court ruling to block the Federal Government from accessing its internal documents.

The move to access the documents was part of the government’s attempt to stop P&ID Limited, partly owned by VR, from collecting the nearly $9bn arbitration award.

US District Judge, Paul Engelmayer, in New York granted the hedge fund’s motion, overturning a ruling from May and quashing subpoenas issued by Nigeria.

Bloomberg reported that Nigeria sought the information to aid a corruption probe into P&ID Ltd., a company in which VR Capital acquired a 25 per cent interest in 2018.

Nigeria’s anti-graft agency is investigating a gas-supply contract a former minister concluded with P&ID in 2010 and subsequent arbitration proceedings that resulted in the hefty penalty against the country three years ago. The federal government alleged that the British Virgin Islands-registered company developed sham arrangements designed to fail and has accused P&ID of bribing its officials.

Nigeria is in English courts attempting to overturn both the 2017 arbitration award and a decision by a UK judge last year upholding it, claiming P&ID’s alleged fraud only recently came to light.

P&ID had denied any wrongdoing, saying Nigeria invented the accusations to evade its legal obligations.

Six months ago, Judge Lorna Schofield, also in the Southern District of New York, granted Nigeria permission to gather information from US banks concerning transactions involving companies and people affiliated with P&ID, as well as former government officials.

The Nigerian government also wanted VR Capital to hand over documents concerning its purchase of P&ID shares as well as the decade-old contract and ensuing arbitration.

But VR Capital applied to the federal court in New York to set aside the subpoenas principally on the grounds that Nigeria should have sought authorisation through its mutual legal assistance treaty with the United States. While the hedge fund is based in London, the four entities and two directors targeted by Nigeria are in New York.

Nigeria “misled” Schofield by denying any intention to use the documents in the English proceedings, according to Engelmayer’s November 6 opinion.

VR Capital claimed Nigeria would use the information provided by the hedge fund for the same goal.

Nigeria told Engelmayer that the main use of VR Capital documents would be in its domestic corruption probes. In his ruling, Engelmayer accepted Nigeria’s argument that it would be permissible for the government to present some material to support efforts to challenge the arbitration award in England.

However, a review of the request by the U.S. Justice Department under the treaty would help decide if the information sought was “genuinely intended for use in a criminal prosecution or investigation” or “the improper purpose of fortifying Nigeria’s attempt in the English courts to void the multi-billion-dollar arbitral award against it,” Engelmayer said.

It is unclear if Nigeria plans to submit a new application under the bilateral agreement.

“Delay tactics” adopted by VR Capital and P&ID are “prolonging the discovery process and preventing us from obtaining critical evidence,” a spokeswoman for Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, said.

“These evasive efforts are manifestly inconsistent with P&ID’s position that it has nothing to hide,” she said.

“Misleading the U.S. court” is part of Nigeria’s last-ditch efforts to avoid payment of the arbitration award,” said Zachary Rosenbaum, a lawyer at Kobre & Kim LLP who is representing P&ID and VR Capital.

Nigeria scored a victory in September when a London judge ruled the government had established a “strong prima facie case of fraud” against P&ID and should be permitted to test its allegations at a trial to determine the legitimacy of the arbitration award.

Following the decision, Nigeria’s lawyers wrote to Engelmayer asking him to dismiss VR Capital’s motion.

Information collected from the banks had contributed evidence to the anti-corruption agency’s probe, which in turn had been “critical” to the country’s success in the English court, they said.

Business

Petrol price: Dangote counters NNPC, says crude sale in naira starts Oct 1

Published

3 hours ago

September 15, 2024

Trends Admin

Petrol price: Dangote counters NNPC, says crude sale in naira starts Oct 1

Dangote refinery has carpeted the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for reportedly misleading members of the public on the cost of petrol brought from the refinery.

Anthony Chiejina, Group Chief Branding and Communications Office of Dangote, stated this in reaction to an earlier statement by the NNPC that it bought a litre of petrol from the new refinery at N898/litre.

Chief Spokesperson for the NNPCL, Olufemi Soneye, was quoted as saying, “We successfully loaded PMS at the Dangote Refinery today. The claim that we purchased it at N760 per liter is incorrect. For this initial loading, the price from the refinery was N898 per litre.”

The oil firm moved about 300 trucks to the 650,000 capacity refinery in Lagos, on Saturday, and loading commenced on Sunday.

But in its statement, Dangote Refinery said, “Our attention has been drawn to a statement attributed to NNPCL spokesperson, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, that we sell our PMS at N898 per litre to the NNPCL.

“This statement is both misleading and mischievous, deliberately aimed at undermining the milestone achievement recorded today, September 15, 2024, towards addressing energy insufficiency and insecurity, which has bedeviled the economy in the past 50 years.L

“We urge Nigerians to disregard this malicious statement and await a formal announcement on the pricing, by the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, appointed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, which will commence on October 1, 2024, bearing in mind that our current stock of crude was procured in dollars.

“It should also be noted that we sold the products to NNPCL in dollars with a lot of savings against what they are currently importing.

“With this action, there will be petrol in every local government area of the country regardless of their remote nature.

“We assure Nigerians of availability of quality petroleum product and putting an end to the endemic fuel scarcity in the country.”

Business

Dangote sells petrol N898/litre to NNPC, motorists buy N855 at filling stations

Published

4 hours ago

September 15, 2024

Trends Admin

Dangote sells petrol N898/litre to NNPC, motorists buy N855 at filling stations

Hours after commencing loading of petrol from Dangote Refinery in Lagos, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) on Sunday began dispensing fuel to motorists at its filling stations without too long queues.

This came as the NNPCL disclosed that that it bought fuel from Dangote at N898 per litre.

Spokesperson for the NNPCL, Olufemi Soneye, said, “We successfully loaded PMS (petrol) at the Dangote Refinery today.

“The claim that we purchased it at N760 per litre is incorrect. For this initial loading, the price from the refinery was N898 per litre.”

This is contained in a statement issued to Daily Trust on Sunday, clarifying that the price of petrol was higher than previously reported figures.

A correspondent of newstrends.ng however observed that the product was sold on Sunday at N855/litre at all filling stations controlled by the national oil firm in Lagos.

In Idimu, Egbeda and Akowonjo among other areas, the NNPC dispensing outlets were seen selling petrol in an orderly manner.

Some stations had short queues; some had none as the vehicles waiting to buy were within the walled compound.

The NNPCL on Saturday confirmed mobilising 300 trucks for loading at the Dangote Refinery’s 650,000 barrels per day capacity in Lagos.

Loading operations commenced on Sunday, with over 70 trucks loaded by afternoon.

Business

Petrol: Dangote pump price emerges as NNPC trucks begin loading

Published

16 hours ago

September 15, 2024

Trends Admin

Petrol: Dangote pump price emerges as NNPC trucks begin loading

There are indications that petrol may be sold between N857 and N865 per litre at filling stations after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) starts lifting the product from Dangote Refinery today (Sunday).

The NNPCL, as the sole off-taker of petrol from the refinery, is projected to lift the product at N960/N980 per litre and sell to marketers at N840/N850 to enable Nigerians to get it at between N857 and N865 at the pump at filling stations.

Petrol as of Saturday was sold at N855 per litre at NNPCL retail stations in Lagos and it was the cheapest anyone could buy the product while major marketers sold around N920.

At independent marketers’ outlets, the price was over N1,000.
Elsewhere across the country, petrol sold for more than N1,200 per litre.

Negotiations

Vanguard reports the new arrangement from the NNPCL and Dangote Refinery negotiations, spanning more than one week, would allow Nigerians to get petrol at between N857 and N865 per litre and represents an average under-recovery of about N130 to NNPCL.

President Bola Tinubu, according to a Presidency source, made it clear to the negotiating parties that “the price at which petrol would be sold to Nigerians should not place heavy financial burden on them while dealing with the new reality of the prevailing price”.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, has expressed optimism that the deal would reduce the pressure on foreign exchange (FX) demands and shore up the value of the Naira – presently, between 30% and 40% of FX demands go into the importation of petrol.

Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Ltd., Olufemi Soneye, who confirmed the readiness of the company to start lifting petrol today, told Sunday Vanguard, yesterday: “NNPC Ltd has started deploying our trucks and vessels in the Dangote Refinery to lift PMS in preparation for the scheduled lifting date of September 15th, as set by the refinery.

“Our trucks and personnel are already on-site, ready to begin lifting. We expect more trucks, and the deployment will continue throughout the weekend so we can start loading as soon as the refinery begins operations on September 15, 2024.”