Process & Industrial Development (P&ID) has applied to appeal the judgement halting the enforcement of its $11 billion award.

This is coming on the heels of the decision of the London court to quash P&ID’s bid to restart arbitration against Nigeria.

On October 23, 2023, Justice Robin Knowles of the Commercial Courts of England and Wales, halted the enforcement of the award by upholding Nigeria’s prayer that it was obtained by fraud and in violation of section 68 of the English Arbitration Act 1996.

The judge found that P&ID had paid bribes to Nigerian officials involved in the drafting of the gas supply and processing agreement (GSPA) in 2010. He also found that P&ID was illegally in possession of Nigeria’s privileged legal documents during the arbitration hearings.

However, Knowles said he still had to choose from three options after making his determination: (a) to remit the award to the tribunal, in whole or in part, for reconsideration, (b) to set the award aside in whole or in part, or (c) to declare the award to be of no effect, in whole or in part.

Nigeria had argued that the award should be set aside in its entirety, invoking the common law principle that “fraud unravels all”.

In his final pronouncement on Friday, Knowles said he had decided against sending the award back to the arbitration tribunal. He crushed the award in its entirety.

P&ID is now seeking Knowles’ permission to appeal the October 2023 judgment.

Its lawyers argued at the hearing on Friday that the judge failed to apply a “causation” requirement which would have shown if the arbitration award would still have been made if bribes had not been paid by P&ID to government officials.

TheCable reports that P&ID also argued that the privileged documents that were found in P&ID’s possession played no role in its victory at the arbitration. Knowles has now reserved judgment.