French court orders seizure of 3 Nigerian presidential jets

A French court has ordered the seizure of three presidential jets linked to the Federal Government.

According to Financial Times, the jets to be seized are a Dassault Falcon 7X, a Boeing 737-7N6/BBJ and an Airbus A330-243 belonging to the federal government of Nigeria, stationed at Paris-Le Bourget and Basel-Mulhouse airports.

This is as a result of an application by Zhongshan, a Chinese company whose export processing zone management contract was revoked by the Ogun state government in 2016.

The judgment is the latest arbitration effort against Nigeria by a foreign company alleging that Africa’s most populous nation reneged on an agreement.

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In 2013, Zhongfu, a subsidiary of Chinese investment company Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment, and the Ogun state government signed a contract to develop a free trade area.

Zhongfu was to own 60 per cent of the joint venture under the terms of the deal.

However, three years later, Zhongfu alleged that Ogun had backed out of the deal and wanted to take over the “significant” Chinese investment in the free trade zone.

The company said a “campaign of illegal acts” against it ultimately forced it out of the agreement.

Zhongshan initiated arbitration proceedings against Nigeria in 2018.

A three-person arbitration panel in London awarded the company $70mn in damages to be paid by the federal government in 2021. The award has since grown to about $81mn with interest.

“It is clear that Zhongsan is the effective winner in these arbitral proceedings, in that it has proved its version of events is accurate, it has successfully resisted Nigeria’s jurisdictional and preliminary objections, it has established that it has a valid claim against Nigeria under the Treaty and it has obtained an award for substantial damages,” the arbitration panel wrote.

Financial Times quoted a source person familiar with the case as saying that Zhongshan filed the enforcement order at the centre of the most recent ruling with the Paris Judicial Court because the jets were parked in France.

The federal government is yet to comment on the matter.