A Chinese investment firm that is vying for up to $70 million in arbitration judgments from Nigeria has decided to sell two residential buildings it took from the nation for sale on the international internet marketplace eBay.
This information was reported to Peoples Gazette.
According to the Gazette, years after Nigeria failed to pay an arbitration ruling rendered in 2021, Zhongshang Fucheng Industrial Investment Ltd acquired two properties associated with the Nigerian government in Liverpool, United Kingdom, in June 2024.
The properties at 15, Aigburth Hall Road, Liverpool, and Beech Lodge, 49, Calderstones Road, Liverpool, were targeted after Zhongshang executives were granted the authority by a British court order in December 2021 to seize Nigerian assets in the UK to recover the $70 million payment that was still unpaid as of August 20, 2024, with interest accruing at the rate of two percent per month.
As of the date of the arbitration ruling on March 26, 2021, Zhongshang was granted $55,675,000 plus interest of $9,400,000 and fees of £2,864,445 according to court papers. A disagreement between Zhongshang and Ogun State gave rise to the litigation.
The company claimed that when the state withdrew its rights to a free trade zone in 2016, it broke a 2001 trade agreement between China and Nigeria.
In 2018, the company brought Nigeria before a UK arbitration panel, claiming that Nigeria had permitted Ogun State to use its federal agencies, including the police, immigration, and export processing authority, without following the proper procedures.
Court documents said two Zhongshang executives were expelled from Nigeria between mid and late 2016 after one of them had allegedly been detained and tortured by the police.
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Barely months after Nigeria narrowly avoided a similar arbitration ruling that awarded over $11 billion to a partnership named P&ID, the case has confused the nation once more.
After the discovery of P&ID owners’ involvement in bribery and corruption, the arbitration ruling was overturned.
In contrast, the Zhongshang case seems to be moving forward, since many European courts had already issued enforcement orders in the UK, Belgium, France, and other nations, allowing the pursuit of Nigerian-owned aircraft and other assets.
Recently, an appeal decision denied Nigeria sovereign immunity protection over Zhongshang’s US recuperation attempts.
According to a Zhongshang consultant, the business has been trying to list the two Liverpool homes for sale, even on eBay, where the source said that both properties would fetch up to $2.2 million.
“They said the value of both properties should be around $2.2 million, so they already put together a plan to sell them to willing buyers,” the consultant said under anonymity to discuss client deliberations. “Some websites like eBay might bring buyers faster than other methods.”
The properties were confiscated even though they belonged to Nigeria since they weren’t declared as diplomatic or consular property for Nigeria. The Nigerian embassy in the UK was unrelated to the people who were now residing at the houses, as the Gazette discovered. A senior judge stated that Nigerian authorities have frequently rented out both locations to visitors, however it was unclear when Nigeria purchased the properties.
In her June 14, 2024, ruling allowing Zhongshang to seize the buildings from Nigeria, Master Lisa Sullivan of the UK High Court, King’s Bench Division, said: “The properties are currently used for the purpose of leases to residential tenants unconnected with Nigeria and its mission. Those are commercial purposes for the purpose of s13(4) of the SIA and therefore the enforcement against the properties is not barred by state immunity.”
According to the source, the sale would not take place in secret since Nigerians had a right to know the complete amount seized and the amount that each confiscated item was being sold for.
The consultant said, “Zhongshang pledged to be transparent with the sale due to Nigerians’ strong public interest in the matter.”
(allnews.ng)
