The Federal Government has criticised Chinese company, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, for its attempt to seize the nation’s offshore assets including presidential jets.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, said in a statement on Thursday that the company was pursuing a “fraudulent claim” similar to that of the PI&D in the UK.
According to Onanuga, the case was against Zhongshan Fucheng Ltd and the Ogun State Government regarding a 2007 contract between the company and the state government to manage a free-trade zone.
He said the dispute which has been resolved through the Nigeria’s judicial system is now been wrongly tried in Paris, with Zhongshan engaging in “unorthodox” means to strip Nigeria off its assets overseas through subterfuge.
Onanuga said Zhongshan obtained two orders from the Judicial Court of Paris dated March 7, 2024, and August 12, 2024, without any notice being duly served on the Federal Government of Nigeria and Ogun State Government.
“The material facts in the transaction between the Ogun State Government and Zhongshan point to another P&ID case in which unscrupulous and questionable individuals falsely present themselves as investors with the sole objective of undercutting and scamming Governments in Africa,” he said.
Reacting further, the presidential spokesman said, “Undoubtedly, Zhongshan withheld vital information and misled the Judicial Court in Paris into attaching the Nigerian government’s presidential jets, which are on routine maintenance in France. The use and nature of the Presidential jets as assets of a Sovereign entity whose assets are protected by diplomatic immunity forbid any foreign Court from issuing an order against them.
“We are convinced the Chinese company misled the Judicial Court of Paris regarding the use and nature of the assets it seeks to attach and did not fully disclose to the court as required by law.”
“This same Chinese company had tried to enforce its questionable judgment in the UK and USA but failed,” Onanuga added.
