The Chinese company, Zhongshang Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd., which caused controversy by seizing three Nigerian Aircraft planes in France and other assets in other countries, has seized another Nigerian Aircraft plane in Canada.
This comes shortly after a French court seized three presidential planes in favor of Zhongshang Fucheng as part of a dispute with the Ogun State government.
The company later announced that it had decided to release one of the three planes as a gesture of goodwill, especially on the occasion of President Bola Tinubu’s planned meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Tinubu, on Monday, ventured out to France on board the delivered Airbus A330 business fly, in the midst of controversies encompassing its purchase, after it was delivered by the Chinese firm.
The Chinese company recently received documents from Canadian authorities in Montreal to change the plane’s storage location, months after a Quebec court ruled allowing Zhongshang to remove the plane from Nigeria and confiscate it.
To enforce an arbitration award against Nigeria worth over $70 million, Zhong Shang has seized Nigerian assets overseas, including two properties in Liverpool, a Dassault Falcon 7X in Paris, a Boeing 737, an Airbus A330, and, most recently, a Bombardier 6000 in Canada, worth over $100 million.
On March 21, 2024, Quebec Superior Court Justice David Collier dismissed Nigeria’s attempt to retain ownership of a Bombardier 6000 jet. Records show the plane was purchased by fugitive Dan Etete for $57 million after he received more than $350 million as part of a massive spending spree scheme that included $1 million in the fraudulent sale of the OPL 245 oil field in 2010.
