Three aircraft linked to the Nigerian government were confiscated by a French court after a prolonged legal dispute involving a sub-national entity and Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd, a Chinese company, as reported by Premium Times.
Among the planes seized is a brand new Airbus A330 valued at over $100 million, a Dassault Falcon 7X, a Boeing 737, all of which were previously part of the Nigerian presidential fleet or had been recently bought by the government.
The report indicates that the Dassault Falcon 7X was in the process of undergoing scheduled maintenance at Paris-Le Bourget airport, while the Boeing 737 and Airbus A330 were both stationed at Basel-Mulhouse International Airport for similar maintenance activities.
Reports have it that the seizure of the presidential jets is due to a request made by Zhongshan, a Chinese company that had their export processing zone management contract revoked by the Ogun State government in 2016.
Even though an arbitral tribunal led by a former President of the UK Supreme Court ruled in favor of Zhongshan and awarded them €74,459,221 in compensation, the decision has not been upheld.
Consequently, Zhongshan sought enforcement of the arbitral award through the French legal system. The 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 issued an order to ensure that the aircraft are immobilized and unable to take off independently by specifying that they should be positioned with the cockpit facing a wall or building, or by any other means that prevents autonomous takeoff.
The report also mentions that Zhongshan has implemented similar measures in the United Kingdom. In this instance, properties owned by the Nigerian government in Liverpool were confiscated following the orders of a UK court regarding the ongoing disagreement.
