As Andrew England for London’s Financial Times newspaper reported a month ago (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/319f69e4-3877-11df-aabd-00144feabdc0.html), Maan Al-Sanea was found in contempt by a Cayman Islands court “for breaching a worldwide order freezing $9.2bn of his assets”.
A spokesperson for Mr Sanea's Saad Group said the company was pleased that the court "ruled in our favour on the major allegations and that any findings against us are of a narrow, technical, and novel nature".
The spokesperson added: "We will be appealing against those elements of the judgment, and it remains our resolute belief that Saudi Arabia is the correct place for this entire spurious dispute to be resolved."
Yet to be reported on, however, is the fact that – right now – the judgements are being debated in the Cayman Islands Grand Court. The court’s calendar – viewable here: http://www.caymanjudicial-legalinfo.ky/Courts/Cause-lists/20100426-Grand%20Court%20List.pdf - – suggests that, right now, the case is again being heard in court. Indeed, five days have been scheduled to argue the facts.
With both sides so resolute as to where blame lies, the events in the Cayman Islands might prove significant. What will both sets of lawyers argue? With whom will the Judge agree, especially given the recent contempt ruling? And what will the wider ramifications be? We will soon find out...
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Interesting what is going on in Cayman and the impact this courts decision will have on the relationships between the Cayman Islands and the GCC. I refers to an interview with the Cayman Premier last December when he said the Freeze will not have a negative affect on future business in Cayman. http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091214/BUSINESS/712149962&SearchID=73389364168266
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if there is a data base for businesses that have pulled out of Cayman since last year?
Eduard I don’t know of any data base but I think the Cayman will suffer, specially on how this case was handled. Apparently according to The National Maan Alsanea was never serviced correctly with the Cayman Case “A document box containing the summons had been left untouched outside his palatial home in Al Khobar for weeks”, “Acting on legal advice from Cayman, Al Gosaibi decided the writ could be legally served via publication in the Saudi press, and so took out full-page ads in Al Watan, the country’s leading daily”.
ReplyDeleteIf I was setting up an off-shore business I would definitely not go to Cayman since the legal system allows service to be through a box in front of a house or through press. Its a basic right to be informed in the right way in my opinion.
Here is the link to the article in the national if you want to read it
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090912/BUSINESS/709119785&SearchID=73389366694135