US defense contractor, General Dynamics, is seeking to recover £16m ($20.34m) from Libya over the supply of military equipment and communications.
The firm has gone to court to claim the proceeds of any sale of a north London mansion owned by Saadi Qaddafi, son of former Libyan leader, Muammar Qaddafi, and former commander of Libya’s special forces.
The property was seized in 2012 in the name of the Libyan people, following a court ruling that Saadi was the beneficial owner of the property, which was bought through a British Virgin Islands registered front company, Capitana Seas.
The house is now at the centre of a legal fight between General Dynamics and Libya. The contract between Libya and General Dynamics’ UK subsidiary was signed in 2008. During the protests against Qaddafi, the company appeared to be working with the Khamis Brigade, led by and named after one of Qaddafi’s sons.
The Khamis Brigade was the best equipped of Libya’s security forces and was directly involved in putting down the uprising in cities, such as Misrata and Tripoli.
In a bid to recover the money it is owed, General Dynamics sought arbitration from the International Chamber of Commerce in Geneva, which ruled in its favour in 2016.
The company then applied to the English courts to enforce the debt, which was opposed by the Libyan government. Eventually, Libya appealed to the UK’s Supreme Court and won on the basis that the proper procedure for recovering a debt against a foreign state had not been followed.
However, the US firm is pressing on with its legal moves to recover its money.
