The Libyan state has won a lawsuit filed by the French company Sorelec demanding Libya to pay half a billion euros for a settlement agreement concluded by one of the sovereign ministries with the French company, the lawsuits administration has confirmed.
The French company had claimed that it is entitled to be paid this sum of money due to its lack of access to financial dues for implementing projects in Libya in 2003 for the value of 36 million euros, saying that this amount is far short of the required compensation, according to a statement by the lawsuits administration in Libya on Wednesday.
The Paris Court of Appeal issued on Tuesday a ruling on the appeal filed by the lawsuits administration to cancel the partial arbitration ruling issued by the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris on December 20, 2017.
The 2017 ruling awarded the company a payout of 230 million euros, with the obligation to pay 150 thousand euros to the Libyan state in exchange for the legal costs incurred.
The court also ruled to cancel the final arbitration award issued in favour of the same company by the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris on April 10, 2018, to compensate 452 million euros, while obliging the company to pay ten thousand euros to the Libyan state for the legal expenses.
The court found that the circumstantial, serious, accurate, and consistent evidence provided by Libya were sufficient to prove that the agreement concluded by the sovereign ministry is illegal and corrupt and establishes that it is contrary to the general system applicable in the International Commercial Arbitration.
The administration stated that over the past four years, it had spared the Public Treasury losses estimated at ten billion dollars.
