Virgin Islands Court Authorises Chinese Investors, Zhongshan to Seize $25m from Nigeria
A British Virgin Islands court has granted Chinese investors, Zhongshan, the authority to seize $25 million from Nigeria’s foreign denominated assets over the defunct Ogun Free Trade Zone deal.
Peoples Gazette reports that the order was delivered by Justice Paul Webster of the British Virgin Islands High Court.
Webster held that Nigeria was not immune to execution of an arbitral award and subsequent judgment debt in favour of Zhongshan as a result of the wording of the underlying bilateral investment treaty concluded between China and Nigeria.
The ruling marks a fresh development in a string of losses Nigeria has suffered in foreign jurisdictions over the past years.
Courts in the UK, France, Belgium, Canada, the United States, among others had found Nigeria liable.
Zhongshan was represented in the case by Timothy Otty (King’s Counsel) and Lauren Peaty of Withers British Virgin Islands.
Recall that the seizure is a result of the Ogun State government’s failure to honour a $74.5 million award granted to a Chinese company, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, by an independent arbitral tribunal, chaired by the former President of the UK Supreme Court.
Zhongshan investors claimed that ex-Ogun State governor Ibikunle Amosun had crudely backed out of the trade zone deal and that he detained them for weeks where security agents —under his orders— tortured them.
