The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the closure of operations of Process and Industrial Development Limited (P&ID) and P&ID Nigeria Limited (P&ID).
Two directors of the company were also convicted of charges bordering on economic sabotage and money laundering.
With this conviction, the FG may now ask the appeal court in the UK to set aside the $9.6 billion judgment against Nigeria in the botched gas processing agreement.
Muhammad Kuchazi, commercial director of P&ID, the British Virgin Islands, and Adamu Usman, a director of the firm in Nigeria, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of economic sabotage and money laundering at a federal high court in Abuja on Thursday.
Justice Inyang Ekwo gave the forfeiture order following the arraignment of the companies by the #EFCC.
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The defendants pleaded guilty to intent to defraud by obtaining property from the Cross River State government, and a second count of obtaining land from the state government with the intent to defraud, as well as ‘count three’ for conspiring with certain individuals to commit a felony by dealing with petroleum product without the appropriate licence.
The defendants also pleaded guilty to counts five, and count six which bordered on the charges of tax evasion.
They pleaded guilty to count seven, and count eight of concealing the origin of over N3 million operated by P&ID when they knew that the money formed part of proceeded of an unlawful act.
The companies pleaded guilty to count nine that between January and December 2009, they concealed the unlawful origin of over N2 million in a commercial bank when they reasonably ought to know that the proceeds formed part of their unlawful act of tax evasion.
They pleaded guilty to concealing the origin of over N1m in a commercial bank operated by P&ID when they ought to reasonably know that it formed part of proceeds of tax evasion by the company.
The defendants also pleaded guilty to the last ‘count 11’ for failing to comply with the requirements of submitting a declaration of their activities to the Ministry of Trade and Investment.
