The Arabian Investment Court of the Arab League will hold its hearing on 21st of August to look into the petition submitted by Saudi based Tanmia for Management and Marketing Consultants over its dispute with the Tunisian government over a contract signed between the two on broadcasting rights of Mediterranean Games 'Tunisia 2001'.
The case started when Tanmiah entered into contract with the Tunisian Government in 1999 to sublet the broadcast rights of Mediterranean Games 'Tunisia 2001' and all related activities.
The contract which was unilaterally terminated by the Tunisian government and caused Tanmia a loss of over $ 79 million.
Adel Bin Saleh Almaddah, President of Tanmiah assured: "We are committed to reaching a solution despite their quest for rights from the Tunisian government, which took seven years.
Arab region is investing heavily in the businesses and is under focus. There must be certain mechanisms to encourage this positive trend. Arab and Tunisian law stipulates that the affected companies such as Tahnmiah should be fairly compensated for the losses.
"Tanmiah has strong proofs to claim their rights. Duly signed contracts, written documents and related facts record is intact with the company. The Tunisian side for hearing is represented by the District Attorney, who denied any other representation in this case, has no objection over claims of Tanmiah”, Almaddah explained.
He said Tanmia's claims for compensation are just and lawful as stipulated in article 10 paragraph 2 of the United Convention for Arab Capital Investment in the Arab Countries, which clearly stipulates that the value of compensation should be equal to the damaged and losses caused to the the investor. Article 11 paragraph 1 states the compensation should be in cash.
Adel Bin Saleh Almaddah further added: "The defendant, the Tunisian government, speculated Tanmiah to give up the case. It is obvious that the defendant has been violating by concealing the facts, when they (the defendant) entered into a contract with Tunis Air, selling shops without the prior intimation to Tanmia, unilaterally cancelling the contract without legal any justification. These violations compelled us seek help from the Arabian Investment Court of Arab League. "
He requested the court to issue a ruling on what Tanmiah had claimed, which is only a part of compensation of the real damages due to the abrupt termination of the contract, which is against the Tunisian law.
Late August 1999, Tanmiah discovered that four months prior to signing a contract with them (Tanmiah), the Tunisian Government had signed a similar contract with Tunis Air, despite the fact that the preamble of the Tanmiah -Tunisian Government contract clearly states that ‘the Tunisian Government has not entered into contract of similar nature with any other party’.
Tanmiah tried its best to solve the issue amicably and on September 15th 1999, a minute was drafted between both parties, where the Tunisian Government confessed to violating the contract and adhered to rectifying the situation by removing all violations. In spite of this, the Tunisian Government did not take necessary steps to resove the issue.
Furthermore, Tanmia tried to resovle the issue through the mediation of Dr. Ahmed Al Salim – then the Secretary General of Arabian Ministers of Interior Council (He currently holds the post of Undersecretary of Ministry of Interior) and of HE The Saudi Ambassador to Tunisia. Despite Tanmiah offering several practical solutions for the problem, Tunisia government did not respond to any efforts made.
Despite their confessions of violating the contract in the aforesaid minutes and Tanmiah’s notice which urged them to adhere to the terms and conditions of the signed contract, the Tunisian Party claimed that Tanmiah did not adhere to the contract.
Furthermore, on the request of the Tunisian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Tunisian party requested the mediation of the Saudi Ambassador to Tunis to force Tanmiah to pay its pledges under the contact. Tanmia held a meeting with the Tunisian Prime Minister with the presence of the Saudi Ambassador to resolve the problem, yet failed to get a positive response from the Tunisian Party.
Subsequently, Tanmiah forwarded the case to arbitration, as per the contract provisions on 11/03/2000. The Arbitration Committee held its session on 8.12.2000 (after approximately 15 months from the date when the minutes were signed on September 15th, 2006).
The Tunisia Party appointed Samir Onabie, a lawyer of the District Attorney, as their arbitrator (for representing the Government in all its disputes), which clearly demonstrated their dire intentions. Tanmiah missed this appointment in order to resolve the dispute through arbitration; however, the Tunisian party cancelled the arbitration ruling through a court order and further cancelled the arbitration term (clause # 4) from the contract.
In addition to the unilateral cancellation of the contract without legal justification, the Tunisian party violated article 14 of the contract, which according to chapter 273 of the Tunisian Obligations Code, states that the termination of the contract should be done through a court order (which was not the case).
Hence, on 14/01/2003, Tanmiah lodged a claim at the Arabian Investment Court of the Arab League and demanded the Tunisian Government to fully compensate its financial losses (resulting from termination of contract) which amounted to a sum of US $ 79,058,170 (US Dollars Seventy nine million fifty eight thousand one hundred seventy).
© 2007 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
