Swaziland King Mswati III's official plane has been detained in Canada for the second time in two years due to a debt dispute, according to Canadian court documents.

Singaporean entrepreneur Shanmuga Rethenam, a former business partner of Mswati, detained the plane this month through Canadian courts in his latest bid to freeze the king's foreign assets as he tries to claim nearly US$8 million (£5.4 million) he says he is owed, Reuters said.

Swaziland government spokesman Percy Simelane on Wednesday noted the king has said he does not owe money to Rethenam, adding he could not go into details because the matter is before the courts.

On May 5, a Toronto court ordered Mswati's McDonnell Douglas DC-9-87 to be confined to the Canadian province of Ontario, where it has been serviced by a local firm, according to legal files.

Rethenam said he sold Mswati the plane in 2010, according to court documents, and then paid for modifications and refinancing totalling nearly US$6.5 million.

Rethenam's subsequent legal action in Canada detained the plane for four months last year before Mswati's side agreed to surrender US$3.5 million to be held in place of the plane.

According to Reuters, Rethenam returned this year with a "worldwide freezing order" from a judge in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), where his aviation firm is registered, according to Canadian court files.

A BVI court had ordered some of Mswati's foreign assets frozen until it makes a decision on Rethenam's claim, according to a copy of a judgement he provided. That case is still ongoing.

(With inputs from Reuters)