P&ID

In 2020 P&ID co-founder, Brendan Cahill, was featured in the Irish Sunday Independent over claims he was involved in illegal arms dealing. [1] [2]

"The words Process and Industrial Development, or P&ID, have plagued the Nigerian government since January 2010, when they entered into an agreement with the opaque company registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) to process ‘wet gas’ and supply them with more usable ‘lean gas’. The two Irishmen who fronted P&ID, Michael Quinn and Brendan Cahill, had no experience in the gas sector and little to offer outside a good relationship with General T.Y Danjuma, the influential Nigerian billionaire and former Minister of Defence who would later be named in the Panama Papers. Despite the red flags, the contract was signed and the parties, at least on the face of it, commenced operations.

"Fast forward two and half years and P&ID had commenced arbitration over lost profits, claiming Nigeria had failed to supply the company with the ‘wet gas’. What happened thereafter was a long and drawn out investor-state arbitration in London, which in 2017 resulted in Nigeria being held liable for US$6.6 billion in damages plus interest. Today the bill stands at almost US$10 billion. The vast sums alone made the story compelling, but a subsequent investigation by the Nigerian Economic & Financial Crimes Commission may have uncovered an unprecedented case of corruption hidden within corruption."

"...If arbitrators were given greater powers to investigate corruption red flags during the arbitration proceedings, the entire case could have been shut down within months of the 2014 hearing. Instead, lengthy and costly legal proceedings left everyone involved worse off and threaten to deprive the Nigerian public of US$10 billion." [3]

Gary Hyde

In 2012 the newspapers reported "Arms dealer who tried to ship 80,000 guns to Nigeria jailed for seven years". The infividual in question, Gary Hyde, 42, "oversaw the £800,000 shipment of tens of thousands of assault rifles, 9mm pistols, rifles, and bullets, from China to Africa in 2007." The article noted:

"Hyde, who was director of York Guns Ltd and Jago Ltd, based in Britain, brokered the deal alongside German businessman Karl Kleber, the owner of Transarms Handelgesellschaft, based in Worms, in Germany.

"They dealt with two Irish men, Brendan Cahill and Neil Murray, who represented the Polish companies Deftech Ltd and Pinimi Ltd, which were acting for the Nigerian purchaser."