The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, has ordered all parties in the committal proceeding instituted against the Bureau of Public Enterprises and its Director General, Mr. Alex Okoh, to file briefs of argument and other processes.
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A statement issued by the BPE on Tuesday said the court had at a hearing on Monday directed that the processes be filed before February 5, the next adjourned date.
The court fixed February 5 to hear the substantive appeal.
An Abuja Federal High Court had on December 17 ordered that Okoh be remanded in prison for 30 days for disobeying a June 6, 2012 judgment of the Supreme Court which affirmed Bancorp Financial Investment Group as the true owner of the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria.
However, following an appeal by the BPE, the Court of Appeal ordered a stay of execution of the Abuja FHC’s ruling.
The court directed all the parties to maintain status quo ante pending the hearing and determination of the motion.
The BPE had, in a statement, insisted that it had always obeyed court orders concerning the disputed sale of ALSCON.
“The bureau had at all times complied with all judgments in respect of ALSCON. However, BFIG has consistently failed to meet its financial commitments as directed by the courts to pay the bid price of $410m as submitted by BFIG in 2004,” the BPE had said.
The legal tussle over ownership of the aluminium plant is between BFIG, an indigenous company, and a Russian firm, Rusal.
BFIG had filed a suit to reclaim the ownership of ALSCON which it claimed was reawarded to Rusal after winning the bidding for it in the aftermath of the company’s privatisation by the then President Olusegun Obasanjo administration.
Rusal was said to have participated in the bidding.
BFIG, through its lawyer, Mr Patrick Ikwueto, SAN, prayed the court to make an order for the enforcement and crystallisation of the mutually agreed Share Purchase Agreement, SPA.
The High Court and the Court of Appeal had ruled in favour of BFIG as the owner of ALSON.
In April 2019, BFIG instituted contempt proceedings against the BPE DG, Okoh, for serially disobeying the courts’ judgments.
Justice Anwuli Chikere of the Abuja FHC had, in her ruling, held that Okoh’s conduct was contemptuous and ordered his remand in prison for 30 days.
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