P&ID Disowns Two Persons ‘Convicted’ As Its ‘Representatives’

The Process and Industrial Development, P&ID, an Irish company, has reacted to the conviction of two persons linked to its $9.6billion failed contract deal in Nigeria.

The two persons linked to the firm, were named as Muhammad Kuchazi, said to be a commercial director with P&ID incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, and Adamu Usman, who was described as a director of the firm in Nigeria.

The accused persons represented the P&ID in Nigeria, the court ruled on Thursday in Abuja where the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC arraigned the duo.

BIGPEN Online had reported that Mohammed Kuchazi and Adamu Usman, pleaded “guilty” to the charges of fraud and tax evasion leveled against them by the EFCC before Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Fed High Court, Abuja.

But reacting to the ruling in which P&ID was wound up and its assets forfeited to the Nigeria government, the firm described the trial as entirely illegal.

P&ID, denied the allegations that the two persons were its representatives, saying that none of the individuals involved are current employees or representatives of P&ID.

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In an electronic email message, P&ID said; “Today’s sham trial in Nigeria is entirely illegitimate, and follows a systematic campaign of harassment, intimidation and illegal detention of a number of individuals associated with P&ID or the GSPA contract.

“The individuals detained have not been afforded due process and have instead been pressured and intimidated by the government into making false statements. 
 
“Nigeria’s Attorney General Abubakar Malami has publicly acknowledged that his aim is to provoke global opposition against P&ID, by undertaking this EFCC ‘investigation’. 
 
“None of the individuals involved are current employees or representatives of P&ID. P&ID itself has received no communication from any Nigerian authority about the investigation or today’s hearing. There has been no evidence produced, no defence allowed, no charges laid, no due process followed. 
 
“The EFCC’s investigation is an attempt to produce false evidence, and is being conducted in blatant disregard of basic human rights and the rule of law.

“P&ID calls on the Government of Nigeria to accept its responsibilities under the law and to cease this sham investigation.”