A court in France has authorised the seizure of three Nigerian presidential jets over Ogun State’s legal battle with a Chinese company, Zhongshan, according to Premium Times.
The court order has prohibited the movement, selling or purchasing of the jets until Zhongshan receives a compensation award of $74.5 million. Bailiffs have already served legal papers for the three aircraft.
The three aircraft seized are a Dassault Falcon 7X at Le Bourget airport in France, a Boeing 737, and an Airbus 330 at Basel-Mulhouse airport in Switzerland. The aircraft is currently undergoing maintenance.
Two of the jets were recently placed for sale by Nigeria, while the Airbus 330 was recently acquired — but yet to be delivered — for a reported fee of $100 million.
In 2016, Zhongshan had a business dispute with the Ogun State government, where the latter terminated Zhongshan’s export processing zone management contract.
Afterwards, a tribunal chaired by a former president of the United Kingdom Supreme Court ordered a compensation award of $74.5 million to be paid to Zhongshan. However, the Ogun State government did not honour the court order until today, leading the Chinese company to seek legal enforcement against Nigeria’s assets abroad.
This development comes after two Nigerian properties in Liverpool, U K., were recently seized by a court in the U.K. about the same dispute. Zhongshan acquired charging orders against the properties, estimated to be between £1.3 million & £1.7 million.
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