The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), the country’s embattled sovereign wealth fund, has finally been granted a legal victory in the UK courts.
The protracted case, which has been ongoing for six years, involved a $22.5 million debt owed to the fund through a property deal involving a UK-based developer, Marme Group, and the Madrid headquarters of Banco Santander.
A Marme group shareholder, Glenn Maud, had borrowed $13.80 million from the LIA as part of a $1.73 billion loan deal to fund the purchase of the property back in 2008.
However, the financial crisis followed soon after and Marme was unable to refinance the loan and eventually went into administration in 2014.
The LIA subsequently pursued Maud for the repayment of the debt which had risen to $22.14 million but he argued that it would be unlawful to pay the debt because the LIA was facing EU sanctions. The property was eventually sold in 2019 and now that the funds from the sale have been released, Mr Justice Snowden, sitting in the UK high court, approved the LIA’s petition for a bankruptcy order against Maud.
The judge also questioned Maud’s claim that the ruling would be pointless because he had no assets, pointing out that he was able to finance “substantial and relentless” court proceedings in the UK and Spain.
© 2020 funds global mena