The British Virgin Islands High Court has granted Chinese investors, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment, permission to seize £20 million from Nigeria’s foreign assets over a failed trade zone deal in Ogun State.
The court granted the investors’ request after the Nigerian Government could not convince the judge that the deal which fell through under the administration of former governor, Ibikunle Amosun, was the firm’s inability to fulfill promises made on the investment.
Granting the investors’ request, Justice Paul Webster of the British Virgin Islands High Court held that Nigeria was not immune to execution of an arbitral award and subsequent judgment debt in favour of a Chinese company Zhongshan as a result of the wording of the underlying bilateral investment treaty concluded between China and Nigeria.
In the judgment seen on Wednesday, the judge held that a term of the treaty which provided that “both contracting parties shall commit to the enforcement of the award” constituted “a written consent of the Nigerian state.”
During the proceeding on November 8, the judge stressed that based on Section 13(3) of the State Immunity Act 1978, the British Virgin Islands must allow Zhongshan to enforce the judgement debt against Nigeria from the UK.
Zhongshan was represented in the case by Timothy Otty (King’s Counsel) and Lauren Peaty of Withers British Virgin Islands.
Otty, who confirmed the development, said that Nigeria was not immune from the execution of an arbitral award of the contract between China and Nigeria.
The ruling marks the latest in a string of losses Nigeria has suffered in foreign jurisdictions over the past years. Following the initial judgement in the UK, courts in France, Belgium, Canada, the United States, British Virgin Islands, among others, have found Nigeria liable to settle the debt and dismissed the country’s sovereign immunity argument as unfounded and unenforceable against Zhongshan.
