Mishcon de Reya had been representing Nigeria, while Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan had earlier replaced Kobre & Kim as P&ID’s representatives.
“I have not accepted all of Nigeria’s allegations. But the awards were obtained by fraud and the awards were and the way in which they were procured was contrary to public policy,” Knowles said in his judgment.
P&ID, an engineering company based in the British Virgin Islands, had entered into a 20-year contract with the Nigerian government in 2010 to construct a natural gas processing plant, which did not materialise.
This led to a legal battle that proceeded to arbitration in 2016 and eventually resulted in a $9.6 billion—later $11 billion with interest—arbitral sum against Nigeria.
