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The Federal Government has described as 'fraudulent' the move by Chinese company, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, to take possession of three presidential jets belonging to the Nigerian government.
On Thursday, August 15, 2024, reports emerged from France that a court in the country's capital, Paris, granted the Chinese company the right to seize the jets following a favourable judgement it got in a dispute with the Ogun State government.
The seizure of the aircraft followed an application by the company, whose business relationship with the Ogun State government dates back to 2010.
Delivering judgement in March 2021, the Judicial Court of Paris allowed Zhongshan to seize the presidential jets as 'security' for the claim of about $74.5 million in compensation against the Ogun government.
Although the court authorised the seizure of the jets, it prohibits the sale or purchase of the aircraft until Zhongshan receives the awarded $74.5 million.
Ogun government and Zhongshan fallout
The feud between the parties started in 2015 after the Ogun State government revoked the contract awarded to the Chinese firm for the management of a free-trade zone.
The displeased Zhongshan initiated an investment treaty arbitration against Nigeria under the bilateral investment treaty between the People’s Republic of China and Nigeria (the China-Nigeria BIT).
In 2021, the arbitration ruled that Nigeria was in breach of its obligations under the China-Nigeria BIT and awarded the company compensation of over $74 million.
The Ogun state and Nigerian government appealed the matter in eight jurisdictions including the United States and the United Kingdom.
The latest jurisdiction is in France, where two Nigerian presidential jets are on routine maintenance, while the third jet is newly purchased and yet to be delivered.
FG accuses Chinese firm of fraud
Responding to the development in a statement on Thursday, presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga alleged that the Chinese firm is trying “to take over offshore assets of the Federal Government of Nigeria through subterfuge”.
The presidency stressed that it was not under any contractual obligation with the company.
“The case in which Zhongshan is trying to use every unorthodox means to strip our offshore assets is between the company and the Ogun State Government,” Onanuga said, flaying Zhongshan which he said “has no solid ground to demand restitution from the Ogun State Government based on the facts regarding the 2007 contract between the company and the State Government to manage a free-trade zone”.
“When the contract with Ogun State was revoked in 2015, the company had only erected a perimeter fence on the land earmarked for a free trade zone,” Onanuga said.
He accused Zhongshan of trying to arm-twist the Nigerian government despite that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has been working with the Ogun State government on an amicable resolution.
“Zhongshan obtained two orders from the Judicial Court of Paris dated March 7, 2024, and August 12, 2024, without any notice being duly served on the Federal Government of Nigeria and Ogun State Government.”
“This arm-twisting tactic by the Chinese company is the latest in a long list of failed moves to attach Nigerian government-owned assets in foreign jurisdictions.
“The material facts in the transaction between the Ogun State Government and Zhongshan point to another P&ID case in which unscrupulous and questionable individuals falsely present themselves as investors with the sole objective of undercutting and scamming Governments in Africa,” he added.
Onanuga says Chinese company misled Paris court
Onanuga claimed the foreign company “withheld vital information and misled the Judicial Court in Paris into attaching the Nigerian government’s presidential jets, which are on routine maintenance in France”.
“The use and nature of the Presidential jets as assets of a Sovereign entity whose assets are protected by diplomatic immunity forbid any foreign Court from issuing an order against them.
“We want to assure Nigerians that the Federal Government is working with the Ogun State Government to discharge this frivolous order in Paris immediately.
“Nigerian Government will always work to protect our national assets from predators and shylocks who masquerade as investors,” he concluded.