Three aircraft belonging to the Nigerian government have been seized following a ruling by a French court.... CLICK TO READ THE FULL NEWS HERE▶▶
The aircraft includes a newly acquired Airbus A330 valued at over $100 million, a Dassault Falcon 7X, a Boeing 737, and an additional Airbus A330.
The seizure of the aircraft follows a prolonged legal battle between the Ogun State government and Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd, a Chinese company, as reported by Premium Times.
According to the online portal, the presidential jets were seized due to an application by Zhongshan, a Chinese company whose export processing zone management contract was revoked by the Ogun State government in 2016.
The state government failed to honor a €74,459,221 compensation to Zhongshan despite an arbitral tribunal, chaired by a former President of the UK Supreme Court, instructing it to pay the said amount.
As a result, Zhongshan sought enforcement of the arbitral award through the French legal system. The enforcement judge at the Paris Judicial Court granted the company authority to seize the aircraft, stating in the court order, “This protective seizure will take place to secure and preserve the claim arising from the arbitration award dated 26 March 2021, made by an ad hoc arbitral tribunal.”
Reports indicate that the Dassault Falcon 7X was undergoing maintenance at Paris-Le Bourget airport, while the Boeing 737 and Airbus A330 were stationed at Basel-Mulhouse International Airport for similar reasons when the seizure occurred.
ARISE News has made repeated efforts to get comments from the Presidency but was directed to Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo. Further checks were made to the Ministry of Aviation, with Keyamo’s media aide Tunde Moshood refusing to confirm or deny the report but also advising that the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, would be in a better position to speak on the matter.
Attempts to reach Fagbemi have been futile as of press time, but a spokesperson asked for time to make findings and promised to revert once more information was available.
