Ruling Allows Pursuit of Libyan Assets in France
LIBYA – A news report published by the international outlet The National confirmed that Kuwait’s Al-Kharafi Construction Group has been allowed to seize Libyan assets in order to recover about $1 billion.
Claim Linked to a Cancelled Tourism Project
The report, whose main points Al-Marsad followed and translated, said the group obtained the green light to seize funds belonging to the oil corporation in Tripoli over a financial claim related to the cancellation of a deal to build a tourism resort during the era of the late Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
Assets Linked to a Joint Project With TotalEnergies
According to the report, a Paris court ruled that the Al-Kharafi group is entitled to pursue the corporation’s assets in France, including assets linked to a joint project with French company TotalEnergies, even though the Libyan energy entity holds no shares in its French counterpart.
2006 Agreement
The report said the group signed an agreement in 2006 with the Ministry of Tourism to build a five-star tourism complex in an area east of the capital Tripoli, under which it obtained a 90-year lease on the land, with construction expected to take seven and a half years.
It added that the complex was to include residential apartments, a commercial centre and restaurants at a cost of about $130 million, before several Libyan public bodies shortly after the contract was signed claimed ownership of the land and demanded that the Al-Kharafi group leave the site.
Project Cancellation and Arbitration
The report said the group at one stage complained that its workers had been attacked by police officers who said they owned the land, before an alternative site was offered and rejected, and that the Libyan government cancelled the construction licence in 2010.
The Al-Kharafi group then turned to arbitration and obtained a ruling in 2013.
$900 Million in Compensation
The report said the ruling ordered payment of $900 million in compensation for profits the group was supposed to make from investing in 14 resorts and facilities over the life of the contract.
