Chinese Investors Snatch Another $57 Million Private Jet Nigeria kept in Canada

Chinese company Zhongshang Fucheng Industrial Investment Ltd has reportedly seized a luxury jet owned by the Nigerian government in Canada.

Zhongshang is aggressively seizing Nigerian assets abroad through court clearances over a disagreement involving the company, the federal government of Nigeria, and Ogun State.

According to Peoples Gazette. Zhongshang Ltd recently finalised the transfer of custody for a Bombardier 6000 BD-700-1A10 aircraft from Canadian authorities in Montreal following a judgment from a Canadian court, which authorised Zhongshang to confiscate the jet, which was initially seized from fugitive Dan Etete.

“The court granted Zhongshang permission to seize the plane earlier this year, but the transfer of custody from Nigeria to Zhongshang was only recently completed,” an anonymous source close to Zhongshang’s operations told Gazette.

“Zhongshang will continue to seize Nigerian assets globally until the full amount of the arbitration awards has been settled.”

Recall that the company got authorisation to seize three Presidential jets of Nigeria, including a Dassault Falcon 7X at Le Bourget airport in Paris, a Boeing 737, and a $100 million Airbus 330 at Basel-Mulhouse airport in Switzerland.

On March 21, 2024, Judge David Collier of the Superior Court of Quebec, Canada, rejected Nigeria’s claims to retain ownership of the jet, which records indicate was purchased for $57 million by Etete following a $350 million windfall from the controversial sale of the OPL 245 oil field in 2010. 

Nigeria had initially confiscated the aircraft from Etete in 2016 and detained it in Dubai before it was later flown to Canada on May 29, 2020. Nigeria quickly secured a court order to seize the jet in Montreal, where it remained under Nigerian control despite a Canadian company, Tibit, attempting to claim ownership.

In 2023, Zhongshang moved to confiscate the jet, which has a capacity of up to 19 passengers, while also pursuing the enforcement of its over $70 million arbitration awards against Nigeria.

Judge Collier rebuked Nigeria’s failure to contest the aircraft’s seizure by Zhongshang, dismissing the country’s claim that it could not respond to the lawsuit for nine months due to the February-March 2023 general elections as baseless and unacceptable. 

He also rejected Nigeria’s assertion of sovereign immunity, which was in line with the reasoning previously outlined by the arbitration panel and courts in the United Kingdom. 

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Oluwatobi Odeyinka

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