By John Lee.
A court in the Netherlands has recognized and granted the enforcement of an arbitration award against the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI).
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)'s International Court of Arbitration in Paris granted the award in favour of Abu Dhabi-based Cardno ME (CME) on February 26, 2023.
It required the CBI to pay approximately $11 million plus interest to CME relating to a dispute over the construction of its new headquarters in Baghdad.
The CBI is currently appealing the case through the French courts.
CME asked for enforcement of the award in the Dutch court under the New York Convention, a global treaty that facilitates the recognition and enforcement of international arbitration awards.
In a decision made public on Monday (9th September 2024), the Amsterdam Court of Appeal found that there was no fraud involved in the agreement, and granted enforcement of the award in the Netherlands.
In relation to this dispute, Australian engineer Robert Pether and his Egyptian colleague Khalid Radwan were detained in April 2021 by authorities in Baghdad. They have been sentenced to five years in prison and jointly fined $12 million on charges of fraud. Their families claim they were tricked into traveling to Iraq to attempt to resolve the dispute.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Pether and Radwan were "arbitrarily detained on discriminatory grounds", and referred the case to the Special Rapporteur on torture.
The ICC judgement from February 2023 can be viewed here.
The ruling from the Amsterdam Court of Appeal can be viewed here [Dutch].
For information on Iraqi law, see our Legal Services page.
(Source: Netherlands Council for the Judiciary)
Comments are closed.