£20m Attachment of Debts Order against Federal Republic of Nigeria

In a judgment dated 8 November Justice Webster of the British Virgin Islands High Court held that Nigeria was not immune from execution of an arbitral award and subsequent judgment debt in favour of a Chinese company Zhongshan as a result of the wording of the underlying bilateral investment treaty concluded between China and Nigeria. The Judge held that a term of the treaty which provided that “Both Contracting Parties shall commit to the enforcement of the award” constituted “written consent of the State” for the purposes of s. 13(3) of the State Immunity Act 1978 so as to permit execution through the grant of an Attachment of Debts Order.

Timothy Otty KC and Lauren Peaty of Withers BVI acted for the successful Claimant Zhongshan.