$9.6bn judgment: We have no record of P&ID investment in Nigeria —Emefiele

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday said the apex bank did not have any record that Process and Industrial Developments Ltd invested any money in the country.

Process and Industrial Developments Ltd recently won a suit granting it the right to seize $9.6bn in Nigerian assets.

The judgement was delivered by a court in the United Kingdom.

The CBN Governor, who spoke at a Press conference in Abuja, described the contract leading to the judgment as a “fraudulent contract” between the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and P&ID.

Emefiele noted that, contrary to its claims in the media, the foreign firm did not invest any money on the contract in Nigeria.

He said, “We have heard and also read in some media that P&ID or the contractor in this case had mentioned that it had invested close to about $40m in the project.

“On our part as the Central Bank of Nigeria, we note that P&ID is a foreign company.

“As a foreign company, if you are investing either in a contract or a project in Nigeria, there are various options you will adopt in bringing in your investment.

“If you are bringing in capital, in which case you are bringing in the money, you will fill Form A and you will also collect a certificate of capital importation.

“If you are bringing in machine or assets to execute your contract, then in this case you will fill Form M and also collect a certificate of capital importation to prove that you actually brought in money.

“We have gone through our records, we do not have any information in our records to show that this company brought in one cent into this country and we have accordingly written to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission and the Intelligence Department of the Nigeria Police that are currently investigating this matter.”