FAQs

In September 2020, the London Commercial Court ruled that the Federal Republic of Nigeria could challenge the then US$10 billion arbitral award. The unprecedented judgment cited exceptional circumstances and noted that prima facie evidence of a massive fraud had been uncovered.

In his judgment, the judge Sir Ross Cranston stated, “Nigeria has established a strong prima facie case that the [agreement] was procured by bribes paid to insiders as part of a larger scheme to defraud Nigeria. There is also a strong prima facie case that P&ID’s main witness in the arbitration, Mr Quinn, gave perjured evidence to the Tribunal and that, contrary to that evidence, P&ID was not in the position to perform the contract. As to the Jurisdiction and Liability stages of the arbitration, there is a prima facie case that they were tainted by the conduct of Nigeria’s advocate… It seems to me that Nigeria has made a good case that, at the time it took part or continued to take part in the arbitration, it did not know and could not with reasonable diligence have discovered the grounds it now advances.”

This is a significant win for Nigeria as well as the court systems, given enforcement of the award would involve the English Courts being used as an unwitting vehicle for this massive fraud against the Nigerian people. Sir Ross Cranston added, “Not only is the integrity of the arbitration system threatened, but that of the court as well, since to enforce an award in such circumstances would implicate it in the fraudulent scheme.”

In October 2021, P&ID revealed that it has been in possession of numerous documents which might be confidential to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. These include documents from the time of entry into the GSPA and legal advice provided to Nigeria as to how to defend the arbitration. These included documents from the time of entry into the agreement and legal advice provided to Nigeria during the arbitration. One of the email threads confirmed at least one of the suppliers of these confidential documents to have been Ms Olufolakemi Adelore, using an email address to communicate with P&ID’s agent and middleman Mr Adetunji Adebayo.

These confidential documents were shared with P&ID representatives, including Mr Seamus Andrew and Mr Trevor Burke KC, among others, who failed to disclose this to the FRN or the arbitral tribunal at any time.

In February 2022, Nigeria obtained orders from appeal courts in the US and British Virgin Islands enabling the country to obtain discovery to support its fraud allegations against P&ID.

In April 2022, a New York federal court rejected the arguments of VR Capital, which acquired a 25% of P&ID in 2015, to withhold documents detailing the deal with P&ID, granting Nigeria’s legal team unprecedented access to important documents.

In July 2022, the London High Court held that it would be reasonable and proportionate for P&ID to disclose further information related to private messages sent between key figures associated with the company over a period of several years, based on the evidence summarised in this Skeleton on behalf of the FRN.

During the hearing, it became apparent that Mr Trevor Burke KC, one of two P&ID representatives who received confidential documents concerning the FRN by email, is the nephew of Mr Michael Quinn, the founder of P&ID. Mr Burke KC allegedly acted for P&ID without any written retainer in place and received payments of up to US$ 3.5 million. These payments were not paid through his chambers, Three Raymond Buildings, and stands to receive around US$750 million in the event P&ID is successful in obtaining the award.

These judgments represent important milestones in the quest to uncover the details behind one of the world’s largest scams and will prove essential in delivering justice for Nigeria.

An eight-week trial took place in the High Court in London between January and March 2023, during which the FRN’s substantive application to finally set aside the award was heard. During the trial, Nigeria put forward its substantive arguments, including that P&ID is guilty of bribery and corruption on an ‘industrial scale,’ and that the key associates of P&ID suppressed evidence of corruption in the initial arbitral proceedings, and that lawyers associated with P&ID disregarded all of their professional integrity, including sharing the FRN’s privileged documents, in pursuit of a promised ‘pot of gold’.

The January 2023 trial exposed the industrial-scale greed of P&ID and its associates, and their disregard for the Nigerian people as they aggressively pursue money they are not rightfully owed, But Nigeria is fighting for more: to put a stop to predatory investment practices, so that international vultures cannot continue to prey on vulnerable nations and their people. Mark Howard KC, the FRN’s lead legal counsel in the case, said those in P&ID were ‘working under the illusion what they were doing in Nigeria in bribing people was open and honest’. Mr Howard added: ‘Quinn and Cahill were the perpetrators not the victims motivated by their own greed.’

Mark Howard KC also emphasised that: ‘the people of Nigeria are the true victims here of what is going on, have been the target of corruption and dishonesty on a truly nauseating scale.’ He added Nigeria is ‘a soft target for people like Quinn and Cahill to tap up to make their millions, and no doubt there are many more Cahills, and Quinns, and VR Capital desperate to back them. And they will continue to leach from the people of Nigeria until a fine line is drawn in the sand.’

Judgment has been reserved and will be delivered at a later date.

The fraud trial has concluded in London, wherein the Federal Republic of Nigeria made its case to overturn the fraudulently procured awards. Nigeria argued that P&ID and its associates are guilty of bribery and corruption on an ‘industrial scale,’ and urged the court to condemn international vulture funds like VR Capital in the ‘strongest possible terms.’

Judgment is reserved and is expected at a later date.

The Federal Republic of Nigeria and P&ID entered into a 20-year gas supply and processing agreement (GSPA) in 2010, whereby the Government agreed that it would supply natural gas (wet gas) to P&ID. In turn, P&ID agreed to process and return eighty-five per cent of the wet gas in the form of lean gas, which could be used for energy generation.

P&ID agreed to construct two or more sophisticated plants with ancillary facilities for the wet gas to be processed. This construction was, however, never carried out.

In 2012, P&ID alleged that the Federation had not fulfilled its obligations in regard to the GSPA, and claimed damages for lost profits – in the region of US$6 billion.

P&ID had however spent little to no money in preparing to fulfil its obligations. It claims to have invested US$40 million in the project, but has shown no evidence to prove this. P&ID never engaged anybody to carry out preparatory work, and nor did it hold any land at that time. It simply had no intention of carrying out its part of the GSPA.

The GSPA is, sadly, an example of officials using sham commercial deals to fraudulently divert much-needed assets from the Nigerian people.

P&ID is a shell company based in the British Virgin Islands.

It is seventy-five per cent owned by Lismore Capital Limited – an opaque entity incorporated in the Cayman Islands, about which little is known.

The remaining twenty-five per cent was recently acquired by VR Advisory Services Limited – a powerful international vulture fund. Vulture funds are a well-known type of hedge fund. They typically invest in buying the debt of the world’s poorest countries, and then take aggressive action to recover that debt.

P&ID was originally set up in 2006. It was co-founded and run by a failed music record producer from Ireland, who had no substantive experience in managing any notable infrastructure projects.

The company had no track record in the oil and gas industry, and no credentials to indicate that it would be capable of carrying out an arrangement as complex as the GSPA.

Further to that, the founders of the company were linked with a range of corrupt activities in Nigeria in the past. They also provided false evidence to the private arbitration tribunal about their prior experience in oil and gas projects.

For example, P&ID claimed its co-founders had over 30 years’ experience managing engineering projects in Nigeria, including working with Shell. This is simply not true. Shell confirmed in a formal letter that the co-founder, Michael Quinn, had no prior experience of oil and gas projects with the company – just one of many examples of the false evidence provided by P&ID to the tribunal.

The vulture-fund-backed P&ID is not a genuine commercial entity. It would never have been able to carry out its part of the GSPA.

Lismore Capital is a Cayman Islands-based entity that owns seventy-five per cent of P&ID – and therefore seventy-five per cent of the potential US$ 10 billion arbitral award.

Lismore Capital – alongside the hedge fund VR Advisory – are funding P&ID’s attempts to enforce the contested arbitral award against Nigeria.

Lismore Capital is owned by P&ID’s former lawyer in the arbitration, Mr Seamus Andrew.

Mr Andrew’s company bought the stake in P&ID in October 2017, just months after the arbitral tribunal ruled in P&ID’s favour. 

It is unusual for the former legal counsel in a case to acquire a substantial financial stake in a company that they represented in a large-scale litigation.  It is even more unusual that the only asset that the company in question has is an arbitration award obtained by the former legal counsel.

Seamus Andrew is a Director of Lismore Capital, the Cayman Islands-based shell entity that owns seventy-five per cent of P&ID.

Mr Andrew was also P&ID’s former arbitral counsel. According to his own evidence before the English court, his company bought the stake in P&ID in October 2017, just months after the arbitral tribunal ruled in P&ID’s favour.

Bank records show that Mr Andrew made large transfers to both VR Advisory and to P&ID.

In addition to representing P&ID during the arbitration, Mr Andrew has given evidence in this dispute for P&ID.

Mr Andrew is no stranger to controversial litigation. He is also no stranger to Michael Quinn and Brendan Cahill.

In 2018, his firm – Lismore Capital – received a US$ 20 million payment, which was described as an “IPCO Settlement Distribution”.  The settlement related to an arbitration involving Nigeria, and Quinn and Cahill. The English Court of Appeal found that the arbitration proceedings were prima facie fraudulent. 

Mr Andrew is also head of a London-based law firm.

It remains unclear exactly whose pockets the US$10 billion will land in, if this case goes in P&ID’s favour.

P&ID is seventy-five per cent owned by Lismore Capital – an opaque entity incorporated in the Cayman Islands, about which little is known.

The remaining 25% was initially purchased by ‘vulture fund’ VR Advisory Limited. It has only recently emerged that this stake has been transferred to another opaque entity – Process Holdings Limited – which is a wholly owned subsidiary within VR Capital’s corporate web. The exact relationship between P&ID and VR Advisory remains unclear.

VR Advisory Services has purchased distressed sovereign debt in Argentina, Ukraine and Greece, seemingly with the intention of making a profit, as these vulnerable nations are forced to restructure their debt to avoid default.

The individuals managing the fund, and their associates, are now aggressively pursuing the US$10 billion for themselves.

The Federal Republic of Nigeria is committed to fighting the injustice of the multibillion dollar arbitration award, to ensure that this money goes towards Nigeria’s future – not into the pockets of millionaires trying to exploit the country.

Clear and concrete evidence of fraud was only recently discovered as a result of the Nigerian Government’s ongoing anti-corruption efforts.

This evidence proves that officials at the highest levels of the previous administration were corrupt. These officials, who were entrusted to safeguard the future and wellbeing of Nigerians, knowingly entered into the sham GSPA, and deliberately failed to defend properly the Federation in subsequent arbitration proceedings.

In particular, the standard protocols required by Nigerian law for authorising federal contracts were bypassed, demonstrating that the terms of the GSPA were deliberately withheld from the rest of the Federal Government by officials who oversaw its signing.

Through Nigeria’s investigations in the US in particular, it has become increasingly apparent that P&ID and VR Capital will go to any length to aggressively pursue their fraudulent US$10 billion award.

P&ID’s pattern of covering up their fraudulent conduct has only recently come to light. In addition to providing false evidence and misleading the Arbitral Tribunal, P&ID also failed to disclose evidence of suspicious payments to the English Courts when they had a clear opportunity to do so. When confronted by the incontrovertible documentary evidence uncovered by the FRN’s legal and investigatory team, P&ID have responded at the eleventh hour with implausible explanations.

P&ID and VR Capital have taken every possible step to delay or obstruct our investigations into the GSPA, which is inconsistent with their contention that Nigeria should have discovered the fraud sooner.

A former Minister for Petroleum Resources and his legal adviser at the time oversaw the signing of the GSPA.

The process carried out for the signing of the GSPA completely bypassed all standard protocols for authorisation, indicating that the contract was deliberately concealed from Government scrutiny. For example, due to its size the GSPA had to be authorised by both the Bureau of Public Procurement and the Federal Executive Council – however, neither were contacted.

Only two Committees were involved in reviewing P&ID’s capabilities – the Technical Committee and the Legal Committee, both of which were led by employees from the Petroleum Ministry. Neither carried out the necessary due diligence.

Personnel from both committees also received unexplained payments from companies associated with P&ID, suggesting the possibility of bribery.

The former legal adviser is currently facing an eight-count charge in Nigeria over the illegal role she played in facilitating the scam agreement. Bank statements seized by Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have revealed that a series of payments totalling over US$20,000 were made to her offshore bank accounts, from companies associated with P&ID, while she served at the Ministry in 2010.

Clear and concrete evidence of fraud was only recently discovered as a result of the Nigerian Government’s ongoing anti-corruption efforts.

This evidence proves that officials at the highest levels of the previous administration were corrupt. These officials, who were entrusted to safeguard the future and wellbeing of Nigerians, knowingly entered into the sham GSPA, and deliberately failed to defend properly the Federation in subsequent arbitration proceedings.

In particular, the standard protocols required by Nigerian law for authorising federal contracts were bypassed, demonstrating that the terms of the GSPA were deliberately withheld from the rest of the Federal Government by officials who oversaw its signing.

Unlike the previous administration, President Buhari and his cabinet has taken a firm stance against corruption.

Since he was elected, President Buhari has established several initiatives aimed at tackling fraud. This includes the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption and the Whistle Blowers Policy in 2016, as well as the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) 2017-2021 in 2017.

US$11 billion represents a significant share of Nigeria’s GDP and national budgets. Nigeria is a developing country, with a significant proportion of its population of 200 million living in poverty.

President Buhari discussed the P&ID case at the 74^th United Nations General Assembly in September 2019, alongside climate change, international security, healthcare and poverty. This highlights the significance of this case for Nigeria and its people. In that discussion, President Buhari emphasised that the Government is “giving notice to international criminal groups by the vigorous prosecution of the P&ID scam attempting to cheat Nigeria of billions of dollars.”

Nigeria is open to business – but not of this kind. The Nigerian Government has promised to make a clear example of the corrupt individuals involved in this case.

The Federation would like to send a message to other fraudulent entities that Nigeria will take corruption seriously.

Unfortunately, under previous administrations, a continuing feature of corruption in Nigeria was the involvement of Government officials at the highest levels of office. The current administration is, however, taking a firm stance against this. It has made the crackdown a top priority and is implementing vital steps in the right direction.

The Federation recognises that corruption is endemic in Nigeria. It will not shy away from bringing to justice those guilty of fraud, including current or former ministers.

The GSPA was unfortunately yet another example of senior government officials using sham commercial deals to fraudulently divert Nigerian assets to themselves.

Nigeria is open to investment and committed to driving long-term success with its business partners. As the largest economy in West Africa, the Government is working hard to diversify the economy. Most recently, the Federation has moved up the World Bank Doing Business Rankings by 15 places in the past year.

The Federal Republic of Nigeria is committed to driving long-term success with its business partners. The Federation has adopted a number of policies to encourage investment in the country. As an example, in 2016, President Buhari set up the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, with the aim of minimising the constraints that come with running a business in the country.