The Federal High Court has convicted the suspects arraigned on allegations of fraudulent involvement in the 2010 contract between the Federal Government and an Irish firm, the Process and Industrial Development (P&ID).
Justice Edward Ekwo read the verdict after the suspects, Muhammad Kuchazi and Adamu Usman, pleaded guilty on Thursday to an 11-count charge of money laundering, abuse of office and economic sabotage filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The court also ordered the firm to forfeit all its assets to the Federal Government.
Mr Kuchazi is said to be a commercial director with P&ID incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, while Mr Usman is a director of the firm in Nigeria.
The court ruled that they both represented their firms.
Usman was convicted for the offences mentioned in the 11 counts while Kuchazi was found guilty of offences in the first ten counts which had his name.
The EFCC began an investigation into the contract between Nigeria and P&ID following a British court ruling that Nigeria owed the Irish firm about $9 billion for violating terms of the contract.
The contract for gas supply and processing (GSPA) was signed by late President Umaru Yar’Adua and P&ID.
The company was to build gas processing facilities around Calabar, Cross River State, and the government was to supply wet gas up to 400 million standard cubic feet per day.
The agreement defined wet gas as “associated gas removed, during oil production, having a propane content of not less than 3.5 mol per cent and a butane content of not less than 1.8 mol content, compressed and delivered via pipeline to the site.”
