AMCON clears air on alleged Illegal Sale Of Aircraft, Spare Parts

Asset Management Corporation of Nige­ria (AMCON) has de­bunked the claim by the founder of Arik Air that it (Receiver Manager of Arik Air) illegally sold some of its aircraft and spare parts.

AMCON, in a statement by SY&T Communications, clar­ified that the aircraft: Q-400, CRJ-1000 and CRJ-900 were ac­quired on loan by Sir Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, the Founder of Arik Air through the Export Development Canada (EDC).

EDC, the statement hinted, serves as the export bank to sup­port the production and export of made-in-Canada goods.

According to AMCON, Aru­memi-Ikhide had approached Bombardier, a Canadian compa­ny, to purchase planes for his avi­ation business and approached EDC to grant loans to support the purchase request.

The corporation stated that EDC agreed an acceptable struc­ture to the lending requests tak­ing into consideration Nigeria country risks, adding that the Canadian company agreed to extend loans to an entity called JEM Leasing Limited towards meeting Arik’s equipment needs.

AMCON added that the company was registered as a special purpose company in a tax haven, while Arik had no shares in it.

It clarified that JEM Leas­ing Limited, then purchased two Bombardier Q-400 aircraft with one spare engine and one Bombardier CRJ-1000 aircraft for Arik Air in the deal, which were pledged to EDC.

It added that JEM Air Lim­ited was fully responsible for paying-off the loan on the two planes acquired, adding that the Irrevocable De-Registration and Export Request Authorisation (DERA) were duly executed in fa­vour of JEM Leasing and EDC.

AMCON insisted these were duly noted by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

According to AMCON, Arik had paid lease sums directly to EDC in settlement of the loan obligations of JEM Leasing Limited to EDC, maintaining that Arumemi-Ikhide, on behalf of Arik (pre-receivership), had approached the Federal Govern­ment of Nigeria for a waiver of customs duty on the planes, which was granted.

It, however, regretted that due to Arik’s financial difficulties, pre-receivership, the manage­ment of the airline defaulted on the lease obligations related to the Q400 and CRJ 1000 aircraft.