Stallion Group, the large conglomerate, which operates in several African countries and the United Arab Emirates, is facing the greatest challenge in its corporate existence as several Nigerian banks seek to liquidate its assets over mounting unpaid debts.

Founded by the colourful and controversial businessman Sunil Vaswani, the Stallion Group, which is involved in a range of diverse businesses spanning food processing, sales of automobiles and manufacturing, has seen its stock go down since Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari assumed power in mid-2015.

Prior to this, the fifty-seven year old Mr Vaswani and his brothers Haresh and Mahesh who also are part of the group’s executive management, had developed a close friendship with the past administration of Goodluck Jonathan, an academic from the Southern part of the country who ensured that Stallion reaped the benefits of its promoters’ fealty through widely-criticized concessions.

Mr Buhari’s ascendancy to the presidency, fueled by a mantra of change has led to greater scrutiny of the labyrinthine dealings of the Vaswanis who have been under countless investigations by several law enforcement authorities in Nigeria.

In addition to well-publicized investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Stallion Group has had serious issues with state and federal tax agencies, the Nigerian Customs Service and the police against which Stallion’s directors sought a protective fundamental human rights order in November 2019.

In 2018, the EFCC filed charges against Stallion Motors Limited and its chief executive Hapreet Singh for allegedly giving a N1.275 billion to the People’s Democratic Party to finance the 2015 elections and the inexorable pressure from the anti-graft agency and other quangos has disrupted the group’s business leading to a rapid downsizing of its workforce.

Industry watchers say that Stallion’s closeness to senior officials of the People’s Democratic Party, including Sambo Dasuki, the former National Security Adviser, who was incarcerated for several years by the Buhari administration after being accused of diverting billions meant for security to partisan causes, has effectively placed Stallion and the Vaswanis on a government blacklist cutting it off from lucrative contracts that had been a cash cow for the group.

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https://www.lagostimes.com/2021/05/17/as-debts-pile-up-stallion-group-faces-an-uncertain-future/

If the company collapses a lot of Nigerian jobs will be lost, it's in the interest of the government to prevent this