UC Rusal, the Russian firm at the middle of the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) drama, has asked the International Court of Arbitration in London to restrain the Federal Government of Nigeria from executing last July’s Supreme Court judgment on the ownership of the plant.

On July 7, Nigeria’s apex court ruled that BFI Group, the Nigerian-American consortium that emerged the preferred bidder for ALSCON in 2004 but was disqualified in controversial circumstances by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), was the valid winner of the bid.

A statement from the Russian Aluminum group obtained by SaharaReporters asserted that UC Rusal remained the owners of the smelter plant in Akwa Ibom.

The BPE has maintained silence over its role in the privatisation deal that grossly undervalued the plant, which was built at $3.2 billion.

Under the Obasanjo government, the BPE unilaterally auctioned public assets to handpicked cronies with no regard to laid-down procedure.

A statement signed by UC Rusal’s Head of Public Relations, Ms. Elena Morenko, said that the Russian firm was prepared to defend its rights to the ownership of its stake in the plant.

“RUSAL wishes to confirm that RUSAL through its subsidiary is the legal owner of ALSCON,” the statement said. “RUSAL’s legal ownership of the plant’s shares has not been affected by any litigation. No member of the RUSAL group is or has been a respondent in any case affecting the ownership of ALSCON.

“RUSAL is, however, fully prepared to defend its rights to the smelter, including in legal proceedings.

“Toward this end, a member of the RUSAL group commenced proceedings in the London Court of International Arbitration, where it seeks an order prohibiting the Federal Government of Nigeria from executing the decision of the Supreme Court to its detriment and, alternatively, granting damages in the event that RUSAL should suffer a loss to its ownership of the stake in ALSCON,” the firm stated.

It will be recalled that UC RUSAL took over the plant in 2006 with a bid of $250 million and restarted production in 2008.

The firm also explained that gas supply constraints and dredging of the Imo River remained its greatest hurdles to running the plant at its installed capacity, which is put at 198,000 tonnes of aluminium per annum.

It will be recalled that a similar fate befell the Indian beneficiaries of the Delta Steel Company in Warri, who have been forced out courtesy of a similar court verdict.