The Federal High Court in Abuja has granted the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) application to take over the assets of the Chairman of SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company, Ambrose Orjiako.
The court also ordered the take over of the assets of two of Mr Orjiako’s affiliate companies, Shebah Exploration & Production Company Limited and Allenne Limited.
SEPLAT Petroleum is a Nigerian independent oil and gas company operating a portfolio of oil and gas assets in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region.
The court order, issued on August 15, was accompanied with the letters to the Managing Directors of 29 commercial and merchant banks in the country where Mr Orjiako and his allies have accounts.
According to the judgement, Orjiako’s shares in Seplat will be taken over by AMCON.
Assets Orjiako stands to lose
All the shares belonging to Orjiako and his affiliate companies (Orjiako and the companies won shares in Seplat, Platform Petroleum, Abbeycourt Trading, Helko Nigeria, Shebah Petroleum Development Company Limited BVI, Plumage Management Limited, Sinclair Commercials Limited BVI and Allenne Limited BVI.)
Orjiako’s personal properties at Nos. 10C and 25A Lugard Avenue, Ikoyi, Lagos.
An oil vessel, MT Trinity Spirit, used as a floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility in Ukpokiti Oil Field belonging to Shebah Exploration & Production Company Limited.
Also affected are all movable and immovable assets of Shebah Exploration & Production Company Limited in and outside Nigeria.
These include the oil production facilities and other assets belonging to Shebah Exploration & Production Company Limited and located in and around Ukpokiti Oil Field.
The assets will be taken over and managed by AMCON’s Receiver/Manager, Francis Chuka, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He will oversee the assets until the full determination of the case. The asset seizure is to liquidate Orjiako and the companies’ outstanding debt to AMCON.
Note: The managers of the 29 banks where Orjiako and his affiliates have accounts were all directed to prevent all further withdrawals of funds and other debit transactions from the accounts.
The Debt
Mr Orjiako has been having a running battle over a multi-billion debt AMCON has been battling to recover.
Although AMCON was not forthcoming with the exact figure of the debt, pressures for a recovery compelled Mr Orjiako early this month to offload about 3.5 million units of the equity he controlled in SEPLAT Petroleum to enable him to defray part of the obligation.
After the sale, Mr Orjiako now holds a direct interest in 16,151,325 ordinary shares and indirect interest in 26,300,000 ordinary shares of the company totalling 42,451,325 shares which equates to a voting interest of 7.21 per cent.
– Premium Times.