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BPE DG Okoh jailed for contempt of court

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BPE says privitisation has freed up $3bn consumed by public enterprises annually

The Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Alex Okoh has been jailed for 30 days by a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja for contempt of court.

The court, presided over by Justice Anwuli Chikere, convicted Okoh for his refusal to act on a June 6, 2012 judgement of the Supreme Court of Nigeria which ruled that Bancorp Financial Investment Group is the true owner of Alluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ASCON)

The tussle of ownership of the Akwa Ibom-based aluminum plant between the indigenous BFIG and a Russian firm, Rusal, dates to 2004, BFIG filed a suit to reclaim the ownership of ALSCON, which it claimed was re-awarded to Rusal after winning the bidding for it in the aftermath of its privatisation by the then President Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

BFIG had through its lawyer, Mr Patrick Ikwueto (SAN), asked the court to make an order for the enforcement and crystallisation of the mutually agreed Share Purchase Agreement, which both the High Court and the Court of Appeals to granted, but Okoh was said to have serially disobeyed the court decisions.

BFIG, in April 2019, however instituted contempt proceedings against Okoh for disobeying the courts’ judgments.

Read also: Court adjourns ex-Gov Jang’s corruption trial, lashes EFCC

While upholding BFIG case, Justice Chikere held that Okoh’s conduct was contemptuous and ordered his remand in prison for 30 days to be purged of his contemptuous acts.

Reacting to the judgement, the management of BPE, in a statement by its Head Public Communications, Amina Othman, said that it had filed a motion for stay of execution and Notice of Appeal against the judgment.

According to Othman, the BPE had at all times complied with all judgments in respect of ALSCON.

“However, BFIG has serially defaulted in meeting its financial commitments as directed by the courts to pay the bid price of $410m as submitted by BFIG in 2004″, she said.

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