Nigeria, Jan. 23 -- The Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) misled the Court of Appeal with a "sham stay-of-execution" order to counter a previous order for the imprisonment of its Director-General, Alex Okoh, for serial disobedience and contempt of the Supreme Court, BFIGroup Corporation has said.

BFIGroup is the Nigerian-American consortium declared by the National Council for Privatization (NCP) as the preferred bidder for the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) in 2004.

In a petition to the Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court, Abuja, the Executive Vice President of BFIG, Jimmie Williams, demanded the immediate enforcement of the order for the arrest and imprisonment of the BPE DG, Alex Okoh.

The petition by Mr Willia...