According to a Premium Times report, a lengthy legal dispute between a sub-national and Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd, a Chinese corporation, resulted in the seizure of three aircraft connected to the Nigerian government by a French court.
One of the newly acquired Airbus A330s, worth at over $100 million, is included in the seizure.
The three planes in question—a Dassault Falcon 7X, a Boeing 737, and an Airbus A330—were either recently acquired by the government of Nigeria, or they had been a part of the presidential fleet there.
According to the article, Basel-Mulhouse International Airport was home to the Boeing 737 and Airbus A330 for comparable maintenance purposes, while Dassault Falcon 7X was being maintained in Paris-Le Bourget airport.
After persistent attempts by ARISE News to obtain a response from the Presidency, a presidential media aide informed us that Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation, was best qualified to comment on the situation.
Tunde Moshood, Keyamo’s media assistant, declined to confirm or refute the story but said that Lateef Fagbemi, the Attorney-General of the Federation, would be a more appropriate person to address the issue.
Though a spokesman requested time to gather information and pledged to respond once he had more, attempts to contact Fagbemi had been fruitless as of the time of publication.
According to the report, the seizure of the presidential jets is a result of an application by Zhongshan, a Chinese company whose export processing zone management contract was revoked by the Ogun State government in 2016.
Despite an arbitral tribunal, chaired by a former President of the UK Supreme Court, ruling in favour of Zhongshan and awarding them €74,459,221 in compensation, the decision has yet to be honoured.
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.”
The court further ordered that the aircraft be secured in such a way as to prevent their movement, saying, “The aircraft… will be positioned so that the cockpit faces a wall or building or in any other way that prevents it from taking off again autonomously.”
The report further adds that Zhongshan has taken similar actions in the United Kingdom, with buildings owned by the Nigerian government in Liverpool seized under the orders of a UK court in relation to the same unresolved dispute.