Asharami Synergy has filed a petition at the Federal High Court in Lagos for the liquidation of Med-View Airline (Kano) over its perceived inability to pay debts totalling NGN43.5 million naira (USD120,000), The Independent newspaper reported.
The Lagos-based oil and gas company alleged it supplied Med-View with fuel between January 2018 and August 2018 reaching this amount. The petitioner said it made various demands for payment after August 31, 2018, but to no avail. This included a meeting between the two parties where the carrier agreed it would pay the entire sum by the end of February 2019, the company said.
Since then, Med-View has allegedly paid just NGN500,000 (USD1,380).
However, in a written sworn statement, Med-View accountant Serifat Olajide denied the petitioner's claims, saying that the carrier's fuel supplier during much of the period had been Lagos-based So Aviation Fuel Limited.
Med-View has since confirmed the case is pending before the high court but has denied any threat of liquidation.
"The issue of indebtedness between Asharami Synergy and Med-View Airline is a case pending at the competent Federal High Court in Nigeria and we rather reserve our comment in order not to run afoul of the contempt of court and subjudice. Our Attorney is of course on top of the matter, and there is no course for raising any alarm," spokesman Johnson Omole said in an emailed statement to ch-aviation.
"However, it suffices to say that the petitioner was only known to us as SO Aviation, and the transaction between Med-View Airline and SO Aviation commenced as far back as December 2015 and prior to August 2018, it was a smooth and mutually beneficial relationship. Payments were made regularly and supplies were on mutual understanding.
"Management of Med-View, however, reaffirm strongly that at no time is our Airline under any threat of liquidation or winding up as we are more than committed to meeting and resolving any of our statutory obligations to all our service providers."
ADS-B data shows Med-View's only active aircraft, B737-500 5N-BQM (msn 28055), has been plying sectors between Lagos, Port Harcourt Awolowo, Abuja, Sokoto, and Kano under an Aero Contractors (N2, Lagos) flight code since December 21, 2019. It is recalled that last year, the carrier's operator's licence was downgraded to charter flights after it ceased complying with minimum fleet requirements for scheduled services.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, besides the B737-500, its two owned B737-400s are both still in maintenance while its sole B777-200(ER) is currently stored.
Med-View's last financial report posted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange was its Q3 unaudited financial statement for the period ending September 30, 2019. It quotes a loss of NGN3.1 billion (USD8.6 million) for the January-September period, compared to a NGN1 billion (USD2.9 million) loss for the same period in 2018.
Editorial Comment: Added Med-View Airline spokesman comment - 28Jan2020 - 14:54 UTC