By Kelechi Mgboji
Assistant Business Editor
The assets of more than 100 high profile billionaire businessmen are on the radar of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) for seizure because they fail to engage in talks for repayment of their debts, cumulatively running into N6.6 trillion.
AMCON’s spokesman, Jude Nwauzor, told TheNiche that the list of the 100 chronic debtors, out of a total of 12,744 in their book, are on their seizure radar, and once the courts grant them the confiscation order, they would swing into action.
“The beautiful thing about the list AMCON published is that none of the 100 debtors has contested his or her inclusion,” he said.
As at March, AMCON admitted before an investigative panel of the House of Representatives that its debt profile had risen to N6.6 trillion due to accumulated interest payment of N2.1 trillion on the original debt of N4.5 trillion.
The House ad-hoc committee headed by Albert Abiodun Adeogun investigating the sale of banks by AMCON, had raised eyebrows at the rise in liabilities, particularly as AMCON owed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) N4.5 trillion.
The CBN said it was closely monitoring and supervising AMCON to ensure that its liabilities were cleared by 2024 when the corporation was expected to wind up operations.
AMCON’s statement obtained by TheNiche stated that the corporation was being owed over N4.5 trillion by about 200 companies who have become “recalcitrant despite obvious efforts of the corporation to deal with the situation.”
AMCON recently increased the tempo of its recovery activities using firmer negotiation strategies as well as utilising the special enforcement powers vested on it by the Act that established it to compel some of its debtors, especially politically exposed persons and business heavyweights to pay their debts.
On February 4, the Corporation listed its debtors to include: Seawolf (N160.09 billion), Capital Oil and Gas, (N104.8 billion), Resort International Limited (N36.30 billion), but its promoter, Wale Babalakin (SAN), said he has a N132 billion judgment debt against the federal government, so AMCON should offset its indebtedness from the judgment debt.
Other debtors include: Tanzila Petroleum Limited (N49.2 billion), Home Trust Savings (N25,749 billion), Suru Worldwide Ventures (N24.41billion), Roygate Properties, (N23.261 billion), Ziklagsis Network Limited (N20.334 billion), Lexcap Partners (N18 billion.)
AMCON also listed Anyiam Osigwe Limited as owing it (N17.247 billion), Iorna Global Resources Limited (N15.873 billion), Hosanna Properties Limited (N14.983 billion), Unudike Enterprises Limited (N14.16 billion), Bulk Pack Services Limited (N13.493 billion), Global Haulage Resources Limited (N11.472 billion), Taka Continental Limited (N11.378 billion), JAG Global Resources Limited (N11.108 billion), Felshade International Nigeria (N10.979 billion), AFRIJET Airlines Limited (N10.886 billion), Hotel De Island belonging to Senator Buruji Kashamu and family (N10.797 billion), and Petroleum Brokers Limited (N10.681 billion), and hundreds of others.
According to the corporation, companies that have been listed are those that failed to respond to its repeated calls for discussions on their loans repayment plans.
Ben Murray-Bruce losses assets
On June 24, the Corporation announced taking over the Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt premises of Silverbird Galleria, and all the companies co-owned by Senator Ben Murray-Bruce and his brothers, Guy Murray-Bruce, Michael Murray-Bruce, as well as his son, Jonathan Murray-Bruce for failing to payback its N11 billion debt.
There are insinuations that AMCON’s latest move has political colorations coming just a day after the vocal member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had said in a tweet that President Muhammadu Buhari should consider dealing with anti-corruption and economic exigencies simultaneously, implying that the ruling party was only fighting corruption at the expense of the economy.
According to AMCON, Senator Bruce, using his firms in 2005 and 2007, borrowed various sums of money from the Union Bank of Nigeria Plc and defaulted in his obligations to pay back.
AMCON bought over the loans from the bank and reached agreement with Senator Bruce on repayment. But the lawmaker could not make up the debt with AMCON, prompting the takeover.
Dangote’s brother losses too
Bulk Pack Services Limited, a beverage package manufacturer and suppliers, owned by Sani Dangote, younger brother to Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, had earlier been taken over by AMCON in mid-May as part of the efforts to recover trillions of naira owed the corporation.
The receiver, Urua Essien, confirmed the development to another newspaper, saying he had taken over the firm which specialises in the manufacture and supply of packages for major beverages companies like Dansa Foods Limited.
The company located at Dangote Regional Office at Oluwole Street, off Oba Akran Street, Ikeja Lagos, is affiliated to the Dangote Group.
Jimoh Ibrahim risks bankruptcy
Penultimate week, a Federal High Court in Lagos granted an interim injunction to the AMCON to confiscate assets belonging to Jimoh Ibrahim in Abuja, Lagos, Dubai and London, over an alleged indebtedness of N50billion.
Ruling in an application to that effect by AMCON’s lawyer, Yusuf Ali (SAN), Justice Saliu Saidu said the order would suffice until a suit filed by AMCON against Ibrahim and his companies was fully determined.
AMCON claimed that NICON Investment Limited, Global Fleet Oil and Gas Limited and Ibrahim were indebted to it to the tune of over N50 billion.
Also affected by the order were Ibrahim’s Nigeria Re-Insurance Company Plc, NICON Insurance Company Plc, Nigeria Stockbrokers Limited and NICON Trustees Limited.
The judge also restrained Ibrahim and the companies from making any withdrawal from all their known bank accounts pending the determination of the suit by AMCON.
Adenuga’s multiple debts
AMCON also listed second richest man in Nigeria, Mike Adenuga as one of the country’s debtors for a N2.4billion loan his real estate company, Covenant Apartments Complex Limited, took from Wema Bank.
AMCON acquired the loan from the bank in 2010, after Covenant Apartments failed to pay up.
In a report published by PREMIUM TIMES, Adenuga is owing three companies (two foreign and one local) a combined debt of over $140.5 million.
The Newspaper said one of the companies has successful secured an interim order from a federal high court to place one of Adenuga’s companies under receivership.
American oil and gas firm, Baker Hughes, was forced to lodge a court petition to wind up one of Adenuga’s companies, Belbop Nigeria Limited, over a USD $12.09 million bill they had been unsuccessfully trying to get the company to pay.
Baker Hughes, the company, argued that in 2009, Belbop awarded it a contract for the provision of directional drilling, MWD/LWD services and supply of drilling fluids and drilling bits, logging cabin and surface acquisition system.
The company told the court that after it duly discharged its obligation and rendered all requisite services, Belbop refused to pay. Baker Hughes said it incurred a liability of $9.4 million in the course of executing the contract.
On April 12, 2016, Babs Kuewumi of the Federal High Court in Lagos placed an interim injunction on the accounts of Belbop pending the determination of the suit.
The judge appointed the Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court as the receiver/manager of Belbop until the substantive suit is determined.
Adenuga’s mountain of debts, according to the report, has already crippled the operations of Depthwize, an oil servicing company, which ConOil owed $40 million.
The refusal of the management of ConOil to pay Depthwize, a small drilling contractor, has forced the company to lay off workers and shut down services on two of ConOil’s rigs until the money is paid.
The report also said Adenuga is owing multinational oil firm, Total, $28.5 million debt since 2009.