Two Mauritian companies take fight with Zimbabwe to US court

Two Mauritian companies that won a US$50 million (Rs2.28 billion) arbitration award against Zimbabwe after the country tried to void their platinum and nickel mining deals have taken the fight to a Washington DC court in the United States.

Amaplat Mauritius Ltd and Amari Nickel Holdings Zimbabwe Ltd, a Mauritius subsidiary of international resource investment company Amari Resources International, recently urged the US court to block Harare’s bid to escape its obligations.

Zimbabwe has asked the court to dismiss the case.

However, the companies argued that Zimbabwe’s motion should be rejected, arguing that the country is asking the court to disregard settled law relating to sovereign immunity based on unproven statements “and factually tenuous positions of its Zambian law expert”.

The two Mauritian companies want the D.C. federal court to enforce a 2019 ruling from a court in Zambia that confirmed the $50 million award in question.

That award had been issued to the companies by an International Chamber of Commerce tribunal in early 2014.

This was after the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), sought in 2010 to terminate deals it had inked with the companies two years earlier, citing “a corrupt relationship which unduly influenced the signing of the [agreements]”.

Original article at New Zimbabwe