The Libyan Investment Authority won a decade-long court battle to fend of a creditor seeking to claim at least $1.2 billion of assets that were frozen as part of an international crackdown on the regime of late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.
(Bloomberg) — The Libyan Investment Authority won a decade-long court battle to fend of a creditor seeking to claim at least $1.2 billion of assets that were frozen as part of an international crackdown on the regime of late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.
France’s Cour de Cassation ruled on Wednesday against a Kuwaiti construction company and said creditors can’t seize frozen assets or claim precedence over them. The top court cited a 2021 decision by European Union judges which emphasized the “importance” of sanctions to justify any negative side effects for creditors.
Jean-Sebastien Bazille, a lawyer for the LIA, said the ruling reinforces the primacy of European sanctions and “strengthened the protection of frozen assets and the efficiency of international and European regulations.”
The dispute stems from an aborted tourism project in Tripoli and a subsequent order by an arbitration panel for the Libyan state to compensate Mohammed Abdulmohsin Al-Kharafi & Sons Co. about $937 million, mostly to cover for lost profits.
To make good on that claim, Al-Kharafi sued in France to get orders to seize $1.1 billion held in Societe Generale SA accounts, another $105 million held at another bank and shares of the company that rents to book-and-electronics chain Fnac a 15,000 square meters (161,000 square feet) shopping center in Paris.
A lawyer for Al-Kharafi declined to comment on the Wednesday ruling.
In its decision, the top court also pointed out that Al-Kharafi had failed to to seek approval from the French Treasury department before seeking the seizure orders.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
